The Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council (EMRC) recently ran another free Swan River Ramble competition to encourage active transport and get residents and staff outdoors to enjoy everything the Swan River has to offer. Participants followed the wayfinding signage of the Swan River Ramble to discover where fictional character “Eric” was hiding with QR codes at 14 different locations. Scanning the QR code with a smartphone unlocked a question associated with the location and a correct answer gave Swan River Ramblers the chance to go into the draw to win a $100 iFly indoor skydiving voucher.

As well as the public competition, a staff competition was held as an EMRC Health Promotion Group initiative to encourage staff to be active. The more QR codes scanned (and therefore the more questions answered and the longer the distance traveled), the higher the chance participants had at winning. Both winners were recently announced and were among those who completed the most QR code questions. No doubt they will enjoy their prize.

All participants resided in the Perth metropolitan area. There 76 entries from people ranging from 23 to 57 years of age, with the median age being 43. This year’s demographic varied from the previous competition two years ago where the participants were mostly children and included visitors to region from as far as Geraldton.

The Swan River Ramble is one of the EMRC’s initiatives to get staff and residents of Perth’s Eastern Region outdoors and active. While this competition has ended, the Swan River Ramble is ongoing. Spread the word and get your family and friends down to the Swan River to enjoy being active in the fresh air.

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Kylie (Your Move)

Hi Aimee, Glad to hear that Eric and Swan River Ramble have had a spruce up and a relaunch. I have assigned you 25 activity points for running a 'Walking, cycling and active transport challenge.' And then you have received some bonus points for letting us know how many people participated and innovation - what a great initiative. I love the way you guys have gamified the activity and used QR codes. Do you know of any other walks like this around Perth?

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Aimee

I thought it was a good initiative to create the EMRC Staff Competition as well as the general one - and it worked, a group of riders went out one morning before work do do some of the QR locations. Baigup wetlands has a few QR codes on signs. they were put there by the "friends of" group and they link to information about the environment. They don't link to a question however and I don't know of any other paths like the Swan River Ramble - I'm sure they are out there though!

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