Last days to register for the challenge of a lifetime!

The Quit to Win! Challenge offers you free support and the chance to win one of numerous prizes!

MONTREAL, Feb. 19, 2014 /CNW Telbec/ - There are only ten days left to register for the 2014 Quit to Win! Challenge. The campaign, which invites Quebec smokers to quit for at least 6 weeks, will take place from March 1 to April 11, 2014. Smokers who wish to take up the Challenge have until March 1 to register by visiting www.quitchallenge.ca

Back for a 15^th year, the Quit to Win! Challenge is a proven method: since its creation, the campaign has reached over 360,000 participants. On average, 2 out of 3 participants meet the challenge successfully!

Free support and many trips to win
With its flexible formula and 3 ways of participating - alone, with a teammate or with a sponsor - the Challenge aims to increase participants' chances of success. By registering, they benefit from numerous free support tools and from a wealth of resources that are offered exclusively to them, such as the online participant's file and the series of encouragement emails. Participants can also obtain the Jean Coutu to the Rescue Support Kit, available in PJC Jean Coutu pharmacies, starting now.

And for the 15^th anniversary of the Challenge, participants stand a chance of winning one of 2 grand prizes: 2 all-inclusive trips to Puerto Plata and Cancun, courtesy of Transat Holidays and Iberostar! Sixteen gift bags of Clarins products of a value of $150 each will also be drawn from among the participants.

A new mobile app to succeed in butting out
Among its new features, the Quit to Win! Challenge is offering the new SOS Challenge mobile app. It invites participants to create their support network and to call on it when things get difficult. The app, which also includes a savings calculator, is offered in French on the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.

Smokers are encouraged to participate
Véronique Porlier, who quit smoking for good by participating in the Challenge in 2012, encourages smokers to give the experience a try: "For me, the Challenge was the boost I needed to succeed! By butting out for 6 weeks, I filled up on tips and motivation. Benefits quickly become apparent and I didn't give in! On top of setting an example for my children, I took charge of my health."

The 15^th Quit to Win! Challenge will take place from March 1 to April 11, 2014. Registration at www.quitchallenge.ca.

15 years of tobacco cessation assistance 

• Among initiatives of this kind, the Challenge is one of those that reaches the greatest number of adult smokers in Quebec.
• On average, 2 out of 3 participants succeed in the challenge of not smoking for the 6 weeks of the campaign.
• In Quebec there are still 1.6 million smokers, with over half of them (60%) who wish to butt out.
• On average, smokers make 4 attempts at quitting before succeeding in giving up smoking for good.
• Smokers who smoked an average of 15 cigarettes a day and butt out save around $2,000 in one year.

About the Quit to Win! Challenge
The Quit to Win! Challenge is a campaign that provides free support to smokers who want to quit smoking. Inspired by the World Health Organization's Quit & Win international challenge that originated in Finland, it was created in 2000 by the Capsana team, then known under the name of ACTI-MENU, in partnership with Quebec's ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux and the Direction de santé publique of the Agence de la santé et des services sociaux de Montréal. Since its creation, over 360,000 people of all ages have taken part in it.

The Quit to Win! Challenge is produced in partnership with several public and private organizations, including the ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux du Québec, the directions de santé publique of the agences de la santé et des services sociaux du Québec, the Canadian Cancer Society, Jean Coutu and Novartis. For more information, visit www.quitchallenge.ca.

About Capsana
Capsana is a social enterprise owned by the Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont Foundation, the ÉPIC Foundation and the Fondation PSI associated with the Montreal Heart Institute. Its mission is to help individuals take an active role in their health. Founded in 1988 under the name ACTI-MENU, Capsana is dedicated exclusively to the promotion of health and healthy lifestyles, as well as the prevention and management of chronic diseases.

Capsana is behind well-known social campaigns such as the 5/30 Health and Wellness Challenge, the Quit to Win! Challenge, and Smoke-Free Family, which are geared towards the general public, municipalities and families. It also implements health-promotion programs in the workplace and produces publications and other patient information tools for the clinical setting. In May 2013, the organization obtained the Healthy Enterprise - Elite certification from the Bureau de normalisation du Québec (Quebec Standards Bureau). For more information, visit www.capsana.ca.

SOURCE: Capsana

To obtain information or interviews with our spokespersons, Dr. Roxane Néron or Véronique Porlier, ex-smoker and participant in the Challenge in 2012, please contact:

Jean-David Pelletier
Annexe Communications
Cell: 514 222-1276
[email protected]