The Warehouse takes Sea2Sea leap

Trolley racing could be a part of the work day at the The Warehouse in Timaru as employees contemplate different ways to complete a workplace fitness challenge.

The Warehouse’s 80 staff at its Victoria St store have signed up to do the Sea2Sea Challenge for the first time. They will join more than 100 workplaces and 2000 participants in South Canterbury who have already signed up to complete the virtual 240km walk from the Tasman Sea to Caroline Bay. Participants do not actually cross the Southern Alps or walk along the braided rivers of the Canterbury plains – instead they complete the distance with a steady diet of physical activity from September 28 to November 6.

The Warehouse Sea2Sea team leader Bridgette Workman said the company had decided to get on board to be an example to the community of shoppers that came into the store.

‘‘If they see us being proactive and doing exercise it might encourage them,’’ Workman said.

‘‘There’s a buzz within the staff and we work really well as a team so I think we’ll do pretty well.’’

Some of the staff have already signed up with gyms and were looking at ways to eat healthier with more fruit and vegetables in their diet.

‘‘It is going to be a proper challenge for us because we have a number of larger-set people working here,’’ Workman said.

‘‘We’ve got day-shift staff and night-shift staff but we’ll be trying to get all of them involved. If we can do it anyone can.’’

Doing consistent laps of the store by tagging one staff member in at a time was one idea suggested to get their daily exercise in, while races with filled trolleys was another suggestion, Workman said.

‘‘It might be a case of telling customers ‘one more lap and I’ll be right there’.’’

There was a fair bit of misunderstanding about what the challenge involved when they first signed up, she said.

‘‘People working here thought they were going to be forced to go in the sea. We had to explain to them they wouldn’t be doing that and they wouldn’t be doing laps of the pool if they didn’t want to.’’

Sea2Sea co-ordinator Zoe Wills said the event, which has been running for a decade, had reached its target for 2015 by getting 2000 people and more than 100 workplaces and community groups signed up to do it.

Entries had officially closed on Tuesday but she would still accept entries up until September 22.

Photo: JOHN BISSET/FAIRFAX NZ The Warehouse employees Aimee Collier, left, Paula Jackson, Leanne Hernawan and Bridgette Workman leap over Sea2Sea coordinator Zoe Wills. The staff are entering into the annual challenge for the first time.