The Step into Summer challenge involved 600 employees at corporate, healthcare, education, justice and defence sites managed by Sodexo. Ending on 26 May, the six-week challenge also saw 100 of the participants raise £7,500 for the STOP Hunger initiative, which aims to tackle hunger and malnutrition in communities where Sodexo operates. Sodexo staff were asked to put together teams of three people with the aim of each taking 10,000 steps a day. Using a pedometer, each participant went online to log the distance they walked. Employees amassed more than 230 million steps over the course of the challenge. One participant who took part, chef Peter Burt who works at Strathallan School in Perth, topped the individual leader board by clocking up 867 miles in six weeks – over 20 miles a day! Daniel Wright, Sodexo employee relations and policy assistant, said: “As part of our nutrition, wellbeing and lifestyle philosophy Healthwise, we are committed to promoting healthy living amongst our employees, clients and customers, and in those terms Step into Summer has been a great success. Staff really embraced the challenge with many participants reporting the increase in activity levels had a positive effect on their personal health.” Peter Burt said: “On the first day I managed 15,000 steps and my manager did 24,000 so I thought ‘I have to beat that’ and I set myself a target of 40,000 steps a day. I would get up at 6.30am and walked five or six miles which got me 10,000 steps. I’m on my feet for eight hours at work, which got another 20,000 steps, and then I’d walk in the evening until I got another 10,000. “I feel a lot healthier and I’ve lost about three or four inches off my waist. I still wear my pedometer and walk around 30,000 steps a day.”
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