No Elevators Day celebrated in 50 countries worldwide
14/05/2020On 29 April, individuals and organisations in 50 countries on six continents celebrated the most international edition of No Elevators Day ever, sharing photos and videos on social media channels, television and radio of how they #UseTheStairs to keep active at home, outdoors or wherever they could find an accessible staircase to climb at this extraordinary time.
New Zealand and Australia kicked off the day, with social media channels continuing to buzz throughout the day around the world from Asia, to the Middle East, Africa and Europe, to North America and Latin America. Although typical No Elevators Day events in office buildings and public spaces were not possible in most countries this year, individuals and organisations used the opportunity to be creative and show how they’ve been using the stairs to work out during lockdown.
The success of this year’s event was the result of a huge international community effort: NowWeMOVE National Coordinators and ISCA members rallied participants in the sport, health, business and government sectors in their countries, Placemaking Europe shared the call among their international networks, and companies and individuals spread the #UseTheStairs message across the world.
Schools, physiotherapists, nutritionists and sports science students in Spain, universities in Turkey and Costa Rica, the official #BeActive coordinator in Croatia, Suceava Park in Romania, and the International Erasmus Games are just some of the diverse participants who shared videos and photos with their followers.
Politicians from Amasra Municipality in Turkey were still at the office and climbed the stairs clad with facemasks and keeping a safe distance from their colleagues.
Bulgarian National Television (BNT), Radio Vitoria (and companies) in the Basque country also jumped on board by sharing videos and covering local events.
Mónica Chanzá Páya, a teacher at the IES Serra d’Irta school Spain, combined No Elevators Day with International Dance Day, which resulted in some fun dance moves on the stairs (including a flamenco!). But that wasn’t all – her students measured their dance steps on the stairs and managed to climb a massive 51,260 metres on the day!
Sesc in Brazil and Vision4Sport in Poland created the day’s most retro videos with a No Elevators Day video game that would make any nostalgic 1980s gamer hungry to play the real thing, and a Lego elevator challenging Vision4Sport CEO Jakub Kalinowski to a race to the top of his staircase.
There was also a record participation from companies and sports organisations in the Netherlands this year, with several participating in the video challenge to #UseTheStairs, including the Team Sport Service in Amsterdam, Bas van de Goor Foundation in Arnhem and Sportbedrijf Almelo.
We thank everyone who shared their MOVEs this No Elevators Day for creating a fun and vibrant event despite facing such tough times in your countries at the moment – thank you MOVE Agents!
Countries participating in No Elevators Day in 2020: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Moldova, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, USA, Venezuela and Wales.
