Austin Health Walking Challenge

How many times can your organisation walk around the world? Austin Health employees walked around the world 4.6 times in one month during their organisation-wide Walking Challenge earlier this year.

The offer of a free pedometer for every participant and prizes for top performers resulted in the registration of 96 teams and 1142 employees in the Austin Health Walking Challenge. Teams of five to twenty employees from all three Austin Health sites participated. Such a response overwhelmed the small steering group, who had to rush to provide enough pedometers!

The steering group used both the WalkSmart and 10,000 Steps websites for information and guidance when setting up the challenge.

The challenge aimed to create a sustained increase in physical activity with the goal of completing 10,000 steps or more a day. Employees realised the health outcomes were large compared to the little amount of physical activity required.

"The challenge made you realise how every step you take counts towards your fitness and how many ways there are to increase your physical activity in small ways every day - such as by taking the stairs or walking to the next tram stop," said participant Tessa Young.

"It's great to have a workplace that is genuinely concerned about your wellbeing," she said.

The challenge made the staff more aware of the number of steps they were actually taking each day, with the majority of participants initially surprised with the small distance they walked in a normal day.

The challenge encouraged teams to work together to ensure they achieved the highest possible number of steps each day. Many participants noted increases in fitness and loss of weight.

The estimated distance walked was used as a motivational tool rather than an accurate measure. The steering group used an estimated average stride/step length and calculated approximate distance using this in conjunction with number of steps. From the data entered each team tracked their progress walking across Australia. Prizes were awarded for the best performing team, individual, and best team name.

Austin Health is planning a similar program focusing on cycling later this year with support provided from WalkSmart/ CycleSmart, and hope to repeat the walking challenge in 2009.