Publish date: 5 June 2026
Throughout National Walking Month, staff have come together to achieve something truly fantastic and we’re so excited to share the final results!
In its second year, our Step into Summer Challenge saw 33 teams get involved, made up of an incredible 287 colleagues from many departments and services across the Trust.
Together, you’ve been stepping up (come rain or shine!), enjoying the great outdoors, supporting one another, and taking time for your own wellbeing too.
Thanks to your efforts, we’ve raised an amazing £1,590, which will go into the Workforce Wellbeing Fund to support future staff wellbeing initiatives. Thank you so much for supporting with your registration fee – and to those who raised additional funds through their individual fundraising pages. It honestly makes such a valuable difference.
Your final round up
We have a lot of ground to cover in our final round up! As well as sharing the results from weeks three and four we will also be revealing the overall total steps taken throughout May, highlighting some outstanding individual steppers and sharing a short video to reveal the team with the highest average overall steps!
Thank you for sending in photos taken throughout the challenge, it’s been great to see where your steps have taken you, from local streets and landmarks to destinations overseas while continuing the challenge on annual leave!
‘When in Rome’… as the famous saying goes; continue the Mersey Cares Step Challenge! Just like Ben, of the Red Hot Chilli Steppers who took a moment to submit his totals in between attending the Rome Open Tennis and doing a spot of sightseeing!
We hope you’ve all enjoyed the benefits of the challenge and working together as a team, and most importantly, how it’s helped support your wellbeing.
Team average steps – Weeks three and four
In addition to our collective total, we added in a bit of healthy competition by creating a leaderboard each week to reveal the team with the highest average step count. Before we announce the overall result, we have weeks three and four to share.
Red Hot Chilli Steppers came out in front once more in week three with an average total steps of 132,841, followed by Mildly Hot Summer steppers (105,171) and IRAS (I Really Am Stepping) with 102,797 steps taken.
The fourth spot was claimed by Legs Meserables (100, 216) and in fifth, Wellbeing Wanderers (96,168).
Top 6 Steppers - Week three
The top individual steppers in Week Three were:
- Jennifer Billingsley - 208,558 -Red Hot Chilli Steppers
- Andy Willis - 200,889 Red Hot Chilli Steppers
- Saima Aziz 200,000 - Nutrition on the Move (Nutrition in Motion)
- Anna Harden - 182,888 IRAS (I Really Am Stepping)
- Ben Walton - 181,480 Red Hot Chilli Steppers
- Daniel Melling 173,589 Wellbeing Wanderers
Huge congratulations to all of you. The prize this week was some Wellbeing Through Wildlife places for staff to take some time out with the team at Knowsley Safari Park.
As we moved onto week four, we wondered, would anyone be able to stop the Red Hot Chilli Steppers’ winning streak?
It turns out, they couldn’t. Week four winners saw the RHCP’s maintain their strong lead with 138,689 average steps taken, although it was an incredibly tight and exciting finish in the top five.
Moving up from last week’s fourth spot were Legs Meserables with 108,295 average team steps, just marginally ahead of Wellbeing Wanderers in third place (up two places from last week) with 107,414 average steps.
In fourth were Mildly Hot Summer Steppers (MHST with105,530), closely trailed by the Quality and Compliance Team with 105,178 average steps.
Top steppers - Week four
- Andy Willis - 221,762 - Red Hot Chilli Steppers
- Jennifer Billingsley - 216, 492 Red Hot Chilli Steppers
- Jody Cowan 189,012 Stonecroft Stepping Queens
- Linda - 176, 526 - Sole Sisters
- Liz Roberts - 173,157 Mildly Hot Summer sTeppers (MHST)
- Daniel Melling – 166,258 Wellbeing Wanderers
- Carol Owens - 164,142 Quality & Compliance Team
This is the moment you’ve all been waiting for…
Since you submitted your final steps, we’ve been busy adding everything up, and now it’s time to reveal what you’ve achieved together.
An incredible… 75 million steps!
Yes, together, Mersey Care staff have clocked up a truly staggering total.
That’s the equivalent of 35,647 miles (57,370 km) - enough to travel almost one and a half times around the Earth at the equator.
Or if you prefer:
- More than 10 return trips between Liverpool and New York
- 42 journeys from Land’s End to John o’ Groats
- And even 15% of the way to the Moon!
And it gets even better…
You didn’t just match last year’s step count, you absolutely smashed it. This year’s total is up by an incredible 19 million steps, rising from 56 million to over 75.
This is an outstanding achievement and amazing to see just what we can accomplish together. From every lunchtime walk to every extra step taken, you’ve all played a part in something really special - and we hope you’ll join us again next year to go even further.
The 75 million steps walked in May broke down like this:
- Week 1: 24,301,286 collective steps taken
- Week 2: 16,750,769 collective steps taken
- Week: 3 18, 582,257 collective steps taken
- Week: 4 15,652,803 collective steps taken
To find out which team took the Step into Summer Team Challenge title this year, take a look at our short video!
Special mentions and top steppers!
As well as the overall winning team, we also wanted to highlight the individuals who have walked an incredible number of steps throughout the challenge.
There was tough competition between two members of the Red Hot Chilli Steppers who battled it out for the top spot overall.
Just edging it, Andy Willis clocked up the most steps overall out of 287 challengers, taking 846,370 steps in May. This is the equivalent to walking around 423 miles (based upon average stride) and would see him walk the entire length of England from north to south – or all the way from V7 to Cologne in Germany!
A close second was Jennifer Billingsley, also of the Red Hot Chilli Steppers with 837, 409 overall steps taken. This is equivalent to around 419 miles which would see her walk from our Trust HQ all the way to Bruges in Belgium.
Daniel Melling of the Wellbeing Wanderers took 748,927 steps throughout the challenge, equivalent to around 375 miles which would see him walk from Liverpool to Inverness in the Scottish Highlands!
Anna Harden from the IRAS (I Really Am Stepping) also deserves a special mention, achieving 706, 323 steps throughout the challenge – equivalent to 353 miles which would see her walk all the way to Brighton on England’s south coast.
Thank you – and see you again next year!
As well as the fun of doing the challenge itself, we were lucky enough to have a few prizes for weekly steppers, gifted to us by local businesses.
Many thanks to Junkyard Golf gave us tickets for a round at the Liverpool course and Bents Garden centre for the afternoon tea voucher.
We’d also like to thank our Occupational Health and Wellbeing Service who supported us with Wellbeing Through Wildlife sessions for week three and week four winners.
Wellbeing Through Wildlife continues to be funded by Mersey Cares – and we hope more people get the opportunity to experience it.
Finally, we’d just like to say thank you to YOU! To everyone who took part in our second Step into Summer Staff Challenge – it has been incredible. We hope it has supported your wellbeing and team spirit and that you will join us again next year!
*The overall Team Winner was determined by calculating the average number of steps submitted by each team between 1–31 May, based on all registered individuals’ weekly step submissions.
Want to continue your stepping? Why not join our Yorkshire Three Peaks Mersey Cares Challenge in September?
It will take you through the most spectacular Yorkshire Dales scenery, covering a circular 24.5-mile route in a single day. Along the way, you’ll summit the peaks of Pen-y-ghent (694m), Whernside (736m - the highest of the three), Ingleborough, your final climb before the finish line. The route is guided my mountain leaders – who also offer advice and practice walks in the run up.
We have some FREE places to give away – so get in touch and bag them for your team!
Find out more: We're heading back to the Dales! Sign up to our Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge 2026 :: Mersey Care Charity
Also check out our other fundraising challenges. We have everything from Tough Mudder and Giant Inflatables to running events and skydives: Register to a Fundraising Event :: Mersey Care Charity
Thank you for your continued support – we couldn’t do what we do without you.
