Midday Mile to get workers moving

The inaugural mass participation, Workplace Challenge Midday Mile takes place at noon on Wednesday 20th May.

Devon employees will be joining with others across the country, taking a break from their desks, factories and shop floors to walk, jog, run, or cycle this fun, social, mile.

Workplace Challenge in the county is coordinated by Active Devon and the midday mile is one of a number of initiatives to get Devon’s workplaces more active. With the average adult sitting for 50-60% of their day, there are now very strong medical reasons for businesses to take inactivity in the workplace seriously and facilitate fun ways to get their employees moving.

Whether it’s joining one of the 39 major Workplace Challenge Midday Miles, or organising your own midday mile event, employees across England are invited to get involved. A large gathering of university staff, as well as employees from other businesses and projects based at the university, will be attending the Active Devon organised event, which leaves from Exeter University’s Sports Park at midday on 20th May. Local business wishing to participate should phone 01392 263674 for more details. With more than 7,000 businesses and 30,000 people already registered to take part in Workplace Challenge, the event has the potential to be one of the biggest simultaneous, multi-location mile challenges to happen in England this year.

The mile event is being supported by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and participants are invited to raise vital funds to help support the charity’s life saving research, whilst giving their heart and lungs a healthy workout.  Participants can donate £3 to the BHF by texting ‘MILE’ to 70123, or can give to collections taking place at the CSP-led events. Businesses hosting their own Midday Mile events will be able to set up their own collections to support the charity.

The Midday Mile takes place midway through the first ever nationwide Workplace Health Week organised by Workplace Challenge (18-22 May). The week of events, activities and challenges will shine a spotlight on the need for, and benefits of greater levels of workplace activity, whilst also providing employers with inspiring and practical ideas on how to boost activity in and around the workplace.

Scott Kendall, Workplace Challenge Lead at Active Devon said "We hope that the Workplace Challenge Midday Mile will get people thinking and talking about how they can be more active as part of their working day. Being active should be seen as a fun social activity not as a chore. It’s a great way to build better bonds with colleagues whilst getting fit at the same time. The Workplace Challenge Midday Mile is a great example of the type of activity that, when done regularly, will help people meet their weekly activity targets of 150 minutes of physical activity per week.”

iPhone and android users can get even more out of the Workplace Challenge Midday Mile by using the Workplace Challenge app. The app, which can be used to record activity, distance covered and time spent, converts the data into Workplace Challenge points. The app is just one way that Workplace Challenge helps working people to track and monitor their workplace activity.

Setting up your own Midday Mile
Workplaces wishing to set up their own Midday Mile can access resources, support and download a poster to promote their event at http://www.workplacechallenge.org.uk/midday-mile.