PORT ANGELES — About 125 contestants will learn Friday who lost the highest percentage of body weight at the Olympic Weight Loss Challenge awards ceremony.
Then another challenge will begin.
The awards ceremony will be held at 7 p.m. in Linkletter Hall at Olympic Medical Center, 939 Caroline St.
T-shirts and prize money will be distributed to all eligible participants at the event, said Rebekah Miller, Volunteers in Medicine of the Olympics board member.
Participants in the inaugural contest paid $100 to join in the challenge sponsored by Therapeutic Associates.
Six grand prizes of $500 will be awarded to those who lost the most weight in their age category.
Half of the remaining proceeds will be divided among competitors who lost at least 5 percent of their body weight.
The other half will be donated to VIMO, a non-profit medical clinic that provides health care services to adults on the Olympic Peninsula who have no health insurance or no other health care options available.
On registration day, the challenge raised $12,500, Stehr said.
The 125 registrants weighed in Jan. 6-7 and were divided into six groups:
■ 16 women and nine men registered for the 18-34 age group.
■ 24 women and eight men signed up for the 35-50 age group.
■ 52 women and 16 men signed up for the 50 and older age group.
A second Weight Loss Challenge begins Friday.
“Because of the Olympic Weight Loss Challenge’s tremendous success, Therapeutic Associates has offered to sponsor a continuing challenge to benefit VIMO with new rules that will run from April 6 to June 29,” Miller said.
The new contest’s entry fee will be $50 per person.
Registration and weigh-in for the new challenge will be from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday at Therapeutic Associates, 1114 Georgiana St.
Winners will be awarded in three categories — individuals, couples/pairs and groups of five or more.
The contest was conceived by Stehr, who works at Therapeutic Associates and volunteers with VIMO, and coordinated with the two health groups to come up with the Olympic Weight Loss Challenge.
The challenge began with Stehr’s personal interest in losing 50 pounds.
Initially, she thought of getting a few friends together for a friendly challenge.
Challenging herself has helped her maintain her health after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 15 years ago, she said.
Losing 50 pounds could make a great difference to her health, she added, and some of her friends could benefit from losing a few extra pounds and gaining a few dollars as well.
“Then I asked, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to give part to charity?’” she said.
From there, the Olympic Weight Loss Challenge was born.
For more information about VIMO and its clinic at 909 E. Georgiana St. in Port Angeles, visit the website at www.vimoclinic.org or phone the clinic at 360-457-4431.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
