THOMASVILLE- Last Thursday, the Thomasville YMCA held their award ceremony for the winners of their annual Team Lean program, which tracked the weight loss percentage of participants.
Tom Everett, Thomasville YMCA’s CEO and organizer of Team Lean, said that they had a good participation this year.
“It was another successful program,” he said. “The participation this year was around a total of 200 participants and 38 total teams started with the program.”
Of the 38 starting teams, Everett said that about 25 made it to the end once they accounted for disqualifications. He continued on to say that Team Lean is a competition, but also the beginning of a healthier lifestyle.
“Team Lean is the beginning, it’s about kickstarting your wellness journey,” he said.
He added that he hoped those who had participated in Team Lean would continue sharpening the habits and wellness skills they had developed during the program.
Everett said a cash prize was distributed to the top three teams and individually awarded to the top three individual males and top three individual females.
“The prize money was distributed to the top three of each category,” he said.
In the individual categories, Alacia Herring of Team Boston Big Butt won $500 for first place for individual female with a 19.02% weight loss, Sean Austin of Team Best of the Rest won $500 for first place for individual male with a 18.99% weight loss.
In the team category, Team Best of the Rest, which included Sean Austin, Zachary Shiver, Harlen Shackelford and Seth Tate, won $2000 for first place for teams with an average collective weight loss of 16.04%.
Team Lean also included participation for local schools as well this year, with a cash prize sponsored by Envision Credit Union going to the school with the highest percentage of total weight loss from their participating teachers.
According to the Thomasville YMCA, Hand-N-Hand Primary School won the $1000 cash prize with their collective average weight loss of 10.47%.
According to the YMCA, a total of 3,017 pounds were lost over the course of the last few months during the Team Lean program.
Additionally, Archbold, in support of Team Lean, offered a cash prize of $250 to the male and female participant with the greatest reduction in their cholesterol numbers, which was Britt Wetherington and Sissy Ledbetter.
Everett said that he is pleased by how the event went this year and is thankful for the community support for Team Lean and the beneficial impact it has on the county.
“I really think our community supports Team Lean in a great way,” he said. “The business involvement, the school involvement, the local restaurants participating and offering healthy food during the program. It’s just terrific to see the community support for Team Lean.”