Caribou, Presque Isle employees
fighting to be the biggest losers
By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — The long-standing rivalry between Caribou and Presque Isle is being put to good use in a new wellness challenge between the two cities.
Just shy of 20 participants each in the city vs. city challenge, municipal employees have eight weeks to lose more weight that competitors 13 miles down the road.
While the winning city will receive a trophy as well as bragging rights, “It’s all for the better health of the employees,” said Christina Olsen, Presque Isle’s administrative assistant to the deputy city manager/wellness coordinator.
In keeping with the individuality of the two neighboring municipalities, both cities are going about the challenge differently.
In addition to the external challenge with Caribou, Presque Isle has their own internal weight-loss competition with teams and T-shirts — seven public employee spouses are participating in the in-house competition as well. Olsen explained that the 21 employees participating in the Star City’s own challenge have also weighed in for the city vs. city challenge, weighing in at 4,156 pounds.
Caribou’s 29 participating employees weighed in at 6,308.3 pounds, and Program Director for the Caribou Recreation Department Matt Bouchard stated that the initial poundage has already started its downward slide.
“One of my coworkers said he’s already lost three pounds,” Bouchard said.
But whether city employees lose three pounds or 23 pounds during the eight-week challenge, Bouchard and Olsen agree that any weight loss is a step in the right direction when it comes to employee wellness.
“It’s basically just to have fun, get out and get some exercise, try to eat healthier and to compete for the trophy and bragging rights,” Bouchard said.
The official weigh in for the municipalities was on Monday, and the challenge is slated to conclude the last week of May. Olsen and Bouchard made sure to keep the poundage emphasis on the overall total as to not single out any employee and promote a team atmosphere.
“I think everyone is really excited,” Olsen said, adding that she was pleasantly surprised with the number of employees that wanted to participate.
The idea to challenge Caribou to a biggest loser challenge came when Presque Isle City Manager Jim Bennett was looking for new ideas for a wellness program that would get everyone on board and include elements to reduce body mass index and promote weight loss.
Olsen and Deputy City Manager Martin Puckett brainstormed before with Anne Charles from the Maine Municipal Association Wellness Department — Olsen had come across a variation of the biggest loser challenge that different companies held for their employees and when she pitched the idea to Charles, good things started happening.
Charles stated to Olsen that it would be great if Presque Isle could challenge another city, and the Presque Isle/Caribou rivalry came into the picture.
“We kind of formed our idea more, and Martin presented it to Caribou City Manager Austin Bleess — and he said he was 100 percent for it,” Olsen described.
Even though Caribou has more participants than Presque Isle and therefore stands to lose more weight, the official biggest loser will be determined by the percentage of fat lost between the two groups; the municipality that lost the highest percentage of fat will be deemed the biggest loser and receive a trophy from MMA.
“Hopefully if this takes off, we’re hoping to make it a yearly challenge so that the title is always up for grabs,” Olsen said.
As eight weeks is a relatively short window to work with, Bouchard was uncertain what sort of results to expect from the contest.
“Some people could lose 12-15 pounds in that much time but it will probably be around a pound a week,” he said.
“It’s a good time of the year for this,” Bouchard added, “With spring, the weather is getting better for people to go outside and get active.”
