Three year 9 students from Dunedin’s Columba College have launched a new mobile app aimed at helping tackle obesity.

Megan Macdiarmid, Laura Canton and Olivia Charles developed the app On Track Dunedin as part of a University of Melbourne Competition Tech Girls are Superheroes.

The competition, open to female students in New Zealand and Australian, asks participants to use a technology solution to address one of the UN’s development goals.

The girls chose health and developed an app which displays information on walking tracks in the Dunedin area.

“Obesity is a growing problem in New Zealand with 32% of New Zealanders affected by it. Coming up with something to help combat this trend and get more people in Dunedin to be active appealed to us,” said Olivia.

It wasn’t just a concern about health that motivated the team though, they are also very enthusiastic about seeing more females involved in the technology sector.

As part of the competition the girls were assigned a female mentor who works in the technology sector.

“Technology is going to be part of our future and we want to see more women succeed in this area so it was great to have the support and input from someone who is already succeeding in the field of technology” explained Laura.

The girls also acknowledged the support of their local Dunedin-based coach John Canton.

Columba College Principal, Juliette Hayes said she was impressed by the enthusiasm and initiative shown by the girls who’d developed the app outside of school-time.

“I’m very proud of the effort the girls have put into this project and the enthusiasm they’ve shown in getting it this far,” said Mrs Hayes.

“As well as building the app they’ve had to learn and apply skills in project management, research and marketing as part of the competition.

“We hope that like us, everyone out walking our great Dunedin tracks has got their fingers crossed for their success in the competition!”

Judging is currently underway with results due in early September.

The On Track Dunedin app is available for free download on Google Play.