Five porters who clocked up a massive 2.74 million steps during an initiative aimed at helping Suffolk’s workers get healthier have used the challenge as the inspiration behind a generous gift to their hospital’s children’s ward.

The team from Ipswich Hospital’s diagnostic imaging department took part in the Healthy Ambitions Suffolk million steps challenge, which encouraged workmates from across the county to join forces and walk a million steps in just four weeks.

Called Porters R Us, they had hoped to win the competition and donate the first prize, a Nintendo Wii with a fitness programme, to the hospital’s children’s ward. Although they smashed through the one million target, they fell just short of first prize – but generously decided that the hospital’s young patients shouldn’t miss out as a result.

“We signed up to take part for two main reasons,” said team leader Pete Cowburn, who is based in the hospital’s nuclear medicine department. “The first was to try and increase our healthy habits, as although we do a lot of walking in our jobs, we could all do more on our days off.


“But in addition to that was the crock of gold at the end of the challenge – the first prize of the Nintendo Wii which, had we been victorious, we would liked to have donate to the children’s ward.


“We came second so just missed out on the Wii, but we didn’t want the children to miss out too. Instead, all of the x-ray porters in the department pledged to donate some money so that we could buy something else to benefit the patients on the ward.


“We knew that some of their portable DVD players were starting to wear out, so were delighted to raise enough to buy three replacements, which we presented last week. The staff and patients on the ward were absolutely thrilled and we were really pleased that the challenge had given us the inspiration to do something positive for them.”

Porters R Us were among several teams to achieve more than two million steps, recording a huge 2.74 million in total. They also used the challenge, which took place throughout October and November, as a springboard to increase their levels of activity outside of work.

Pete added: “We enjoyed the challenge very much. It helped build team spirit and everyone was really pleased if they got a good total on a particular day. We also carried the extra activity into our lives outside work – and I think my dog is about three inches smaller as a result.


“I’ve worn a pedometer before and know we each do around 15,000 to 20,000 steps on a standard workday, so was confident we could get above the two million mark providing we made better use of our free time. Even so, achieving 2.74 million steps was better than we had expected and made us really proud.”

In total, 209 teams from across the county took part in the challenge, and together walked the equivalent of 7.5 times round Britain’s coast in just four weeks.

Rebecca Hams, Healthy Ambitions Suffolk project officer, said: “We’re really pleased that the million steps challenge inspired the Porters R Us team to raise money for the children’s ward. It shows that the legacy of the challenge has spread beyond just those who took part and into the wider community.


“Although million steps was designed to be fun, we also wanted it to have a serious message by highlighting the importance of staying active and promoting heart health in the workplace. In addition, we wanted to encourage people to make small changes which can have a big impact on overall health.

“Pete and his teammates are a shining example of just how successful a little healthy competition can be. We’d like to thank them, and all of the other teams, for taking part and making the challenge such a great success.”