Congratulations go to all the staff who took part in this year’s walking challenge. All teams combined walked an incredible distance over the six-week period. In fact, teams racked up an astounding 720 million steps – the equivalent of walking over 12 times around the planet or walking to Inverness and back, 1000 times.
The overall winners were The Knockouts, captained by Ogechi Lubeigt, anaesthetic department, University Hospital Wishaw. The team managed a spectacular 4,951.1km, while leading the ‘moderately active’ category.
On being crowned the winning team, Ogechi said: “As a team, we are absolutely delighted to have won the challenge. It was a very good distraction from the day-to-day madness going on around us. There was a healthy rivalry between the various teams of the anaesthetic department which really spurred us on to put in the distance and made the victory even sweeter.”
Ogechi was also the individual with the most steps overall, with a tremendous 1,870km. Ogechi, said: “The challenge certainly brought out a competitive side to me that I didn’t even know existed. Nevertheless, I was very surprised to find out that I had covered the greatest distance during the competition. I did have excellent team and we all spurred each other on. It was a great incentive to get back on my bike and increase my cycling distance, which has continued after the competition.”
In second place was Suzanne Lees from the Hot Steppers with 1,598km and, in third, Kat Bennett from The Knockouts with 1,362km. An impressive 19 of our colleagues managed over 1,000km individually, and 185 teams got all the way to Rome.
Winners of the ‘Very active’ category was I Can Step Team 3, captained by Jacqueline Russell, physiotherapist, integrated community support team, Camglen, with 2,978.4km.
Winners of the ‘Not very active’ category were the Cleland and Udston Hospital team, captained by Stephen Tully, staff nurse, Udston Hospital, who finished with a very impressive 2,406.1km.
And finally, the biggest improvers of the whole challenge were ‘Lost in Paaace’, captained by Cathy Johnman, consultant in public health at Kirklands Headquarters. They clearly found themselves in the latter few weeks of the challenge and shot up through the ranks as the weeks went on.
If you enjoyed the challenge and want the fun to continue, why not join the Strava group and continue uploading and sharing your walks, runs, swims and cycles. The group will run challenges and competitions so there are many more chances to win a prize.
The walking challenge organising team is looking to improve the challenge for next year and would welcome your feedback. To provide any comments, or discuss running your own future challenges, please email Georgie Stuart at Georgie.Stuart@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk
