7 January 2022 Safer, Greener, Healthier

Step your way to fitness in 2022 with a Safer, Greener, Healthier challenge from Essex County Council

Daily step challenge starts on the 10th January and runs until the 20th February

The Safer, Greener, Healthier team at Essex County Council has launched its first daily 3K Steps Challenge in collaboration with the free, wayfaring and walking app, Go Jauntly.

One winner each week will receive an annual Go Jauntly Premium Membership.

There will be two overall winners at the end of the challenge: the first prize will be a smart watch up to the value of £300 (including postage & packaging) and the second prize will be a pair of trainers up to the value of £200 (including postage & packaging).

The 3K Steps Challenge is part of ECC’s ambition for Essex to become safer, greener and healthier by making it easier and safer for residents to walk or cycle, reducing traffic congestion, cutting air pollution and improving residents’ physical and mental wellbeing.

The challenge follows the launch last year of the ECC Walking Strategy whose aim is to raise awareness of the numerous benefits of walking (both physical and mental) as well as encourage Essex residents to stride out rather than jump into their cars, especially for shorter journeys.

Cllr Lee Scott, Cabinet Member for Highways Maintenance and Sustainable Transport at Essex County Council, said: “For most of us, walking is so natural we often don’t consider it as a form of transport. If more of us start walking, not only does this improve the environment but it helps us achieve our strategic priority to improve the health of people in Essex.

“The beginning of the year is a perfect time to take up something new and we hope that many of our residents will sign up to the challenge. If every car owner in Essex replaced just one, one-mile car journey with walking, that alone would save 13,000 tonnes of CO2 a year.”

Sign up for the 3K Daily Steps challenge now online at Go Jauntly.