Step challenge update!

The results are in!

220 GCS staff have over the month of March formed 42 teams and collectively walked an incredible 65 million steps as part of the March the Month team step challengeto help raise awareness of Prostate Cancer.

The initiative was also to encourage staff to become more active, and saw departments across the college uniting in a shared mission to move more, feel better, and support an important cause. What started as a friendly bit of competition quickly turned into a powerful display of community and determination.

Teams tracked their steps daily via the big challenge app, with the aim of walking from Swansea to Edinburgh a distance of 425 miles. The enthusiasm was contagious, with walking meetings, lunchtime strolls, and post-work power walks becoming the new norm around the campuses.

And with over 65,532,732 steps walked, ran and crawled we stepped ourselves to Edinburgh over 60 times. We also run the equivalent of 1,236 marathons or walked the entire Welsh Costal Path 37 times.

The first teams to reach Edinburgh were the Finance Department and Cleaning Team Gor, and the individual who did the most steps in the quickest time was Sue Parsons, so a huge congratulations to all involved.

The real win, though, is the awareness raised around prostate cancer—one of the most common cancers among men in the UK. Approximately 1 in 8 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year and early detection is important to making a good recovery. The College has offered all staff, regardless of age, a free PSA test on campus. To date 63 male staff have had a check and 4 men were later diagnosed with prostate cancer. We are pleased to say that we will be offering more checks at Jubilee Court and Llwyn y Bryn in June, more details on when these will be taking place will be released shortly.

One step at a time, GCS is making a difference.