NHS staff walk over 3000 miles at work
More than 100 teams of five from NHS Ayrshire and Arran team took part in this year’s Summer Step Count Challenge, with the Just Saying team scooping the top prize.
As well as the winning team, four other teams from NHS Ayrshire and Arran finished in the top ten out of 860 teams in Scotland. HereCometheGirls, HasuSprinters and Dolly Day Care who all came in the top ten.
The Summer Step Count Challenge is a workplace walking challenge hosted by Scottish charity, Paths for All.
The teams of five measured the distance walked each day using a pedometer, app or activity tracker from April 18 to June 12.
The winning team, Just Saying, completed a whopping 6,974,772 steps in eight weeks.
That is 3302 miles, and the distance from Crosshouse to Lomonosovka in Kazakhstan, not far from the Soyuz landing zone where NASA astronaut, Tim Peake took off and landed when travelling to the International Space Station.
Team captain, Crawford McGuffie, Directorate Associate Medical Director and Consultant in Emergency Medicine said: “Just Saying ( Linda, Gemma, Pamela, Wendy and some old guy) are five walkingaverse stragglers.
“At first we thought we were doing well at 20,000 steps per day, and then we got it up to 30,000, then 40,000.
“More than 3000 miles later, a team walk from Glasgow to Falkirk, blisters, shin splints, tears and snotters, we made it to the top of the leaderboard just ahead of Here Come the Girls.
“By the end we had all transformed our approach to walking, several hundred pairs of shoes were wrecked and at least one dog had to have its daily food intake tripled.
“The discussions, the banter, the anecdotes and the overall change in the outlook to exercise have been transformational. It has left a very positive vibe.
“We are glad of a rest now, but we’ll be back to win again next year... just saying.”
Staff were encouraged to compete in the challenge as part of a Musculoskeletal ( MSK) health and physical activity campaign.
MSK disorders are very common and include any injury, disease or problem relating to your muscles, bones or joints.
As well as promoting the Step Count Challenge, there were promotional stalls, demonstrations of sit- stand environments, walking groups, and awareness days.
Sarah Bush, Staff Wellbeing Lead - Occupational Health Department added: “We encouraged staff to be more physically active.
“We are delighted about the number of people who took part. It was great to see so many of them out taking part in walking, it was a great achievement.”