West Hills Mall’s trending Old Schools Challenge Campaign snowballed into a vibrant fitness jamboree over the weekend when hundreds of shoppers, tenants and residents from keep-fit groups in the Weija and Dunkonah communities fell in line for the first ever Old School Fitness Walk in the west side of Accra.

Put together in partnership with Multimedia’s Joy Sports and Adom TV, the much awaited fitness walk attracted mostly adults between the ages of 25 and 50, majority of whom were women, as well as a handful of youngsters and children who had joined their parents for the hike.

The exercise is a key component of West Hills Mall’s ongoing Old School Challenge Campaign launched in mid-September to fish out and reward the secondary school whose old students visit and patronize the shopping centre the most.

Nearly every participant had registered for the health walk, having previously submitted entries nominating their alma mater in the Old School Challenge after shopping in any store at West Hills Mall.

The individual alumnus who nominates his or her alma mater on a visit to the mall instantly receives one of a variety of souvenirs and giveaway items, but West Hills Mall has set aside Ghc30,000.00 as a special donation to the school which gets to pool the highest number of entries or nominations from ‘Old-schoolers’.

Two runner-up schools which manage to clench the second and third highest number of nominations would also receive cash donations of Ghc20,000.00 and Ghc10,000.00 respectively. The donations are destined to support development projects in the winning schools.

Sources close to West Hills Mall’s Centre Management indicate that second cycle heavyweights Mfantsipim, Achimota, St. Augustine’s and Wesley Girls’ which shot into the lead only weeks after the launch of the campaign appear to be slacking under hot pursuit from the likes of Accra Academy, Christian Methodist, Adisadel College and Ghana National.

In the early hours of Saturday, several old school groups joined members of the West Hills Mall fitness club and community keep-fit groups, mall tenants and individuals from the Weija-Dunkonah area at the mall’s car park, where instructor Ben of Silver Shells Gym took command of an hour-long drill in aerobics and standard isometrics, before spearheading the contingent onto the Accra-bound wing of the Cape Coast highway for the five kilometre walk.

Pulsating rhythms from an accompanying brass band spurred the old school walkers on throughout the journey, as vigilant medics monitored the procession from an ambulance and a police detachment escorted the group to its destination and back to the Mall.

Beyond the finish line, the walkers were greeted with what every fatigued hiker would naturally look forward to after a non-stop five kilometre walk – refreshment, which, in this case, comprised every popular fruit in Ghana, served along with fresh local non-alcoholic drinks like asana, sobolo, coconut juice, pineapple juice, fresh orange squash and watermelon juice.

Amidst refreshment and free style DJ music, the jubilant walkers broke up into smaller teams and groups for various fun games, including snooker, tug-of-peace, ludo, oware, monopoly, chess and ping-pong.

“The huge success of this fitness walk has heightened the competitiveness of the Old School Challenge,” said West Hills Marketing Manager, Michael Oduro Konadu, as he urged more and more patrons of the mall to acknowledge and assist their alma mater by simply nominating them as they shop at the mall.

“The feedback from the walk has been awesome and the consensus from participants is that, we should have similar walks more regularly. Given the level of enthusiasm we saw, Management may consider rolling out a fitness walk for the same category of patrons possibly twice every year," said Oduro Konadu.

The Old School Challenge Campaign ends at the close of November 2018 and will be climaxed by a special presentation ceremony at which authorities of the three schools which secured the highest number of nominations will be presented with cheques for the cash donations.