Thrill of Portugal's Virtual Victory!

Congratulations to everyone who took part in the NHS Western Isles Spring Big Team Challenge, which followed a virtual route through Portugal.

There were over 300 participants that took part in the walking challenge this spring, with 165 teams of varying sizes of between one and four members. Collectively, the teams covered an incredible 117,446.7 miles.

The walking challenge was kindly supported by HITRANS who funded the prize incentives for gold, silver and bronze prizes. Vicky Trelfer, Active Travel Officer, HITRANS said: “The impressive distance covered is equivalent to walking from Stornoway to Sydney, Australia, and back six times, or from Balivanich to the Moon and halfway back so participants should be proud of their interstellar efforts.”

The winning team were ‘Not Fast, Just Furious’, who won the gold prize of a £200 Love Local voucher. Colum Durkan Director of Public Health, NHS Western Isles, and Leah Mackay, HITRANS, were pleased to present the prize to the winning team consisting of Mairi, Karen, Jo and Suzanne.

All members of the winning team are staff at the Stornoway Childcare Centre. Team leader, Mairi, also achieved the highest step count as an individual across the challenge.

Mairi said: “Taking part as a team encouraged me to take part, and we really egged each other on throughout to keep going for walks.”

There were prizes for best team and best individual across the silver and bronze categories also. Staff from UHI North, West and Hebrides took part under the team name ‘Sole Survivors’ and were the winning team in the silver category. They received a voucher from Norma Macleod, Healthy Working Lives Advisor, NHS Western Isles.

Maureen Murray was the individual winner in the bronze category and was pleased to receive her Love Local voucher from Laura Mackay, Health Improvement Practitioner and Project Lead.

NHS Western Isles is grateful to HITRANS for funding this challenge and the prizes. We hope that the health benefits from increasing step counts and walking habits have been the real prize for all the participants.

Feedback from participants has been very positive with many looking forward to taking part in similar challenges in the future.