Publish date: 31 March 2026
Our team walking challenge is back for 2026! It’s time to assemble your team, lace up your trainers and step up for Mersey Cares!
The month-long event will take place across the 31 days of May during National Walking Month and across Mental Health Awareness Week. It’s a fun way to improve your fitness, enhance your wellbeing, and connect with your Mersey Care colleagues - all while raising funds to support staff wellbeing across the Trust.
There’s a healthy bit of competition too – as you go head-to-head with other teams across the Trust! Plus, we have prizes up for grabs including a Junkyard Golf experience for your team – and coffee and cakes at Bents Garden Centre.
Last year’s event was a huge amount of fun, with 24 teams taking part across the Trust, with the overall winners being team Coniston who clocked up
Registrations are open now ahead of the May event.
£5 per person (all funds raised go towards staff wellbeing initiatives).
Max team numbers: 12 (If you have more than this, please set up an additional team).
Support Staff Wellbeing Every Step of the Way
Did you know the Workforce Wellbeing Fund—created by Mersey Cares—helps support wellbeing initiatives for staff and volunteers? Every penny raised from this challenge will go directly to initiatives like Wellbeing Through Wildlife and Wellbeing on Wheels, supporting staff wellbeing and offering a much-needed break for staff. Funds will also help support campaigns such as our award-nominated Pause for Thought initiative, which tackles menopause awareness, and much more!
The wellbeing initiatives we’ve funded so far have had brilliant feedback -- and we’ve had plenty of requests to do more. One way we can make this happen is through fundraising – and so our Step into Summer step challenge was born!
How the challenge works
- When: The challenge runs for the entire month of May (31 days total).
- Team size: Teams can be made up of 1–12 people. More than 12 in your team? Simply split into smaller groups.
- Cost: It’s just £5 per person to register. All donations go to the Workforce Wellbeing Fund.
How far can you go?
Imagine the impact of your team’s collective steps! For example, if each person in a team of 12 walked just one mile a day, you’d collectively rack up 372 miles in May - that’s like walking from V7 to London and back! If each person walked 3 miles a day, you could cover over 1,100 miles, equivalent to walking from V7 to the Colosseum in Rome!
Track your progress
To log your steps, you’ll need a pedometer or a suitable app on your smartphone or smartwatch. More details on how to track your steps will be shared with you closer to the challenge start date.
Register here: Step into Summer - Staff Step Challenge 2026 | The Mersey Care NHS Charity
