✓ Run Challenges - Allow Walk to count as well

[ccrossan]

I think it would be great for the 'Run' challenges to also allow for 'Walk' to count towards getting the challenge badge for people who are less able-bodied. At the moment only Run, Virtual Run and Wheelchair are available. While this is fantastic for wheelchair users, it excludes people who aren't able to run but do not have mobility issues requiring a wheelchair. For example, I have a heart condition which means that it is actually quite an achievement for me to walk 10km in one activity and it would be nice to get a badge without having to pretend to run the distance required.

[Sunny415]

Thanks for posting, @ccrossan!

We do hear this type of request on occasion, and not exclusive to the walking/running dynamic. I do want to call out that there is a monthly cumulative walking distance challenge regularly available in the gallery. There are also multisport challenges that include all activities of sport types, including walks, regularly available too.  

Could you share more about what you are interested in seeing? Are you specifically looking for best (single) activity challenges that include walks, focused on distance, time, or elevation, for example? Is there a certain type of walking goal that would motivate you or other walking athletes through a challenge that isn't currently being considered, such as a streak goal?

Conversely, if walks were eligible for running challenges, would you and other walkers want to be included on a leaderboard? Should those different activities be included on leaderboards together, or separated apart? How can we help walkers derive more enjoyment and motivation from the challenges we offer?

I love this line of thinking, especially as more diverse athletes, and sports, come to Strava. How can we provide more value through Strava Challenges for these diverse needs? I'm looking forward to hearing more!

[ccrossan]

Thanks for getting back to me @Sunny415.

Yes, I would mainly be focused on distance, but that's just my personal preference. Time and elevation would also be useful for other athletes I'm sure.

I had never thought of a streak goal but now that you mentioned it, it could be really appealing - same way that there is currently the goal "March Indoor Workout Challenge"  where you complete 3 days of activity for 4 weeks. Or alternatively walk for 30 mins daily or something along those lines.

I'm not too interested in leaderboards personally, as I realise with my condition I'm never going to be near the top, so unless other athletes want it, I personally don't think it would be necessary to include walking in the leaderboards.

It would be great to hear from you regarding any updates.

Kind regards,

Claire

[Sunny415]

Thanks for the reply as well, Claire! I personally like the idea of a walking streak challenge, as for me, I want to make sure that I'm getting outside regularly more than track the distance that I've walked.

I have shared this post with the team who creates challenges, and I hope we get more attention here to see what other athletes would like to see from walking challenges on Strava. I can't promise what's to come, and for now, I recommend joining the March Walking Distance Challenge. We offer this challenge monthly, too. 

[Soren]

Thanks for submitting your idea. It has been reviewed by our moderation team and is now open to voting.

[Rixter]

Why is there only one walking challenge? The obvious thing to do is to duplicate the run challenges in for Walk activities. Or I like your earlier suggestion of combining walking and running. Back when I first joined Strava, all activity on 2 feet counted the same. Now somehow there's a value judgement based on how fast you're going. For the monthly cycling challenges the don't say you have to go over a certain speed or watts to be considered cycling

[Silentvoyager]

In my opinion, walking and hiking are no different from running. It may make sense to distinguish them the same way trail running is distinguished from running, but other than that all segments and challenges should be shared between running, walking, and hiking. All leaderboards should be shared too.

Furthermore, walking can actually be faster than running. I can certainly walk faster than some people run. The world record for speed walking 5 km is 18:05.

[pinklady6]

I am training to walk a half marathon and then hopefully going to go on to walk a marathong but the 5k 10k and half marathon challenges are only for runners.

There appear to be many other walkers walking long distances. Please open up race distances challenges for walkers too.

[kwolfe57]

I’d like to also see a Walk or Hike activity count toward the 10k run challenge. Those activities already count toward the run climbing challenge. 

[Rixter]

All the Run challenges should simply be for anything done on foot

[runprime]

no. Sorry this is actually wrong and I'll gladly explain why. FYI, i recognise this has been implemented now and this is why I'm here, it has ruined my experience of the app.

I first will acknowledge that lesser abled individuals work hard on walks and feel like they should count as a run. I hear you.

But, if that is the case the why not just record a running activity instead of a walk acitvity on your device? That way you can have it count towards the running challenge, and if you genuinely feel like you ran then all good. Now, if you say that you don;t want to set a run because you're actuallywalking, then of course it's not a run and so it shouldn;t count towards the running challenge. Saying this respectfully of course. If you currently can only walk then perhaps you will improve and become "a runner". But if you are setting a walk activity and want to be included in running then set a running workout. Simple solution rather than messing up the experience for others such as myself. I'm all for inclusion but this is not right.

Why does it bother me? I do both walks and runs as completely separate sports. And now I am extremely disappointed to see my walks counting towards the running challanges which I have always enjoyed as a good way of tracking my runnning - the separate walk challenges which seeme to have also vanished were good for the walks.

Perhaps more walking challenges to give the walkers some goals to aim for.

[AnnieH]

I completely agree with runprime! Ruins the app for me as well. Can there at least be an option to not have walks count towards running challenges so we can all choose for ourselves?

[Joshearing]

I agree within runprime and Annie. I loved that I could see how much running I did in a month to push myself and used the walk challenge for walking activities. I was so disappointed when I saw that both count on the running challenges now as I earned the 5k run on a walk, when I'm just getting back into running and that would have been brilliant for my first 5k run.

STRAVA please can you separate them again you can always add more walking challenges 

[Rixter]

@runprime & @AnnieH & @Joshearing you raise some very valid points. Have you considered using the Goals from your Strava app. They've really improved them in the past few months, without announcing anything, and you can get quite granular with your goals (distance vs elevation) and differentiate by type of activity (run vs walk vs hike).

Personally I think they should just separate Stride vs Ride. I ride my bike about 12,000km a year and every ride counts. A coast down to the store or a glide with my grandson all counts as a ride. Years ago Strava used to do the same for walking then they made a value judgement and said only runs are tracked, For years I tracked my 3,500km yearly walks as 'runs' but that didn't seem right because I'm not running, nor do I want to.

I think within Stride or Ride they need at least Bronze, Silver, Gold and maybe a Platiumum for each activity. Just my $0.02 worth

[Rixter]

So I just completed the January Running Elevation Challenge. Somehow 2,000m is pushing me to my vertical limits and busting my quads. How patronizing. Now, what do I do for the rest of the month? How about 2048m, 4424, & 8848m increments? And make the congratulations commiserate with some actual accomplishment

[Scout]

Thanks to everyone who took time to vote and provide feedback for this idea. We're happy to announce that walks will now count towards the monthly run challenge. You can check out our current challenges here.