Remove "walks" from running challenges and expand challenges for walks

[runprime]

Walks have been added to running challenges as of January 2024 and as a person who does both run and walk acitvities as separate sports, this has ruined the experience of challenges in the app for me, and in general.

My walks are no counting towards running challenges which rightly used to be separate. They are separate sports.

I found an idea here from last year where somebody requested the opposite and now it has been implemented. From their point of view, they were lesser abled and some walks "felt" like runs to them, which i acknowledge - however, the solution there is ti simply record a running workout on your device, not a walk.

To improve the experience for walkers then more 5k, 10k and monthly mileage challenges can be set up to keep it interesting. 

Last year I really enjoyed tracking my walking challenge and sepaately doing the running challenges. 

Now there are fewer challenges in total which seems like the app is getting worse, not better.

Also importantly need to point out that runs are not included in the walking challenges.... I guess that's the real punchline to this joke.

[dangreen17]

@Jane @Scout 

I got this response: “I don't have any updates on Challenges that I can provide at this time”

So this has not even been considered by Strava yet?  How much longer do you think it will be?  What is the normal time for a formal response (yes or no answer)?  I think the first time this issue was raised was about 8 months ago. 

[Hubert12]

So, since Strava decided that running and walking are the same thing, I am not taking part in any challenges at all. Hope all the brands that run their promotion activities will pull out and make revenue so small for Strava that it will go back to a sport is a sport running and walking are 2 different sports. 

[Agoodheart]

Did the same thing

[mdell19]

I agree with all the sentiments expressed, although I understand the original intent of expanding inclusion in the running challenges the feature enhancement has definitely been a net negative for end user value. At a minimum Strava can add more walk challenges, or more total activity minute challenges, if inclusivity is the goal. It's fair that folks that do more walking than running might feel less valued since there has always been more running challenges than walking. Why was that not the first enhancement instead of diluting the run challenges? Also, as runprime mentioned, there is materially no difference in a user labeling their activity a run vs including walks in the challenges if the end user just wants to complete the running challenge. They might as well fudge their activities vs ruining the run challenges for the hundreds of thousands of runners on this app. Although hikes count towards walking challenges, I feel those are significantly more similar activities than running vs walking. My point being it doesn't always make sense to just expand activities that count for challenges, put some rigor into whether it makes sense.

I strongly feel this enhancement needs to rolled back, it has completely diluted my strava experience.

[nikdavy]

I agree completely with the desire to be inclusive, however since 'walk' is also counted as a separate, distinct activity anyway, I feel like this is going unnecessarily far. I mean, you can't count a bike ride as part of a run challenge (no, don't go there about people how don't change their default activity LOL), so why does a walk count as a run when it clearly isn't?

"I strongly feel this enhancement needs to rolled back, it has completely diluted my strava experience."
+1, definitely.

[Nick68]

It’s a bad idea to combine running with walking. They are quite separate activities. I’m now out of the walking challenge and will not renew my subscription if this is not changed back. I’ve emailed Strava, but no response that makes sense has been received. I’ll go back to the free Strava.

[Aqua4]

My subscription ran out on 1 June, and I refused to renew for this specific reason alone. Combining running and walking completely ruined the challenges for me and the badge streaks I’d built up. I’m now using free Strava which is fine as all my stats are on my Garmin app anyway. Strava refused to listen to this thread for some unknown reason and I know other people are also voting with their feet.

[Nathj07]

Just noticed this today and it is not a good change.

On the original discussion someone suggested replicating the run challenges for walks. That could then include hikes.

For now I notice that hikes are not included in the run goals, so I'm moving all my walks to hikes.

But this  change was a bad one that was not thought through properly.

Please, Strava, reverse it and make a proper solution to the original request

[Kgg80]

Agreed now i just don't use Strava for walks. So basically I use the app less than before. Seems counter intuativeof them if you ask me

[Kootw]

Hi, as a runner I enter every month in a number of running challenges, like Half marathon for April, 100km running in April etc. 

To complete such challenge, you actually need to complete say a half marathon, i.e. 21.1km.

The challenge describe which activities are accepted to complete. Recently, also 'walking' is accepted to complete running challenges, which results in that my 'Half marathon for April' challenge got completed through a 23km walk activity.

Similarly, my 100km running in April got completed after only 55km of actual running activities.

Who would be able to correct this? Or is there a specifc reason why also walks count for running challenges?

KR Wim