WEEK FOUR - FINAL RESULTS

The big day has arrived, the results are in. In this final week of our challenge every team pushed on and the gaps between teams closed dramatically. 

One team made the distance on our journey around the British Isles and slightly overshot Ashendon (finishing near Aston Sandford by my calculations!). Two other teams were hot on their heels and were just a bit short of the distance, finishing somewhere near Leamington Spa.

And so the winners of Ashendon Step Into Christmas are:

CONGRATULATIONS TO 

TEAM STEP IT UP 

You can add this medal to your social media and be very proud of yourselves!

The overall winner is of course the Bernie Bus Christmas Meals Appeal which has raised £3650 so far. Well over £1000 of that has come from the Ashendon Step into Christmas stepper and supporter donations and we contributed a further £100 raised in our week 3 sweepstake. 

Which brings me on nicely to the sweepstake results.

Ashendon steppers travelled a massive 16,711.90 KMs. That is almost 30% more than the distance around the entire coastline of the British Isles. And the winners of our Sweepstake are: 

1st (£25) - Team HeLEX who estimated 16754km (+42.1 km) 

2nd (£15) - Kerstein Family with an estimate of 16,804 km (+92.1 km)

3rd (£10) - Sue Lewin who estimated 16,608 km (-103.9 km)

I will be walking your prize money round today because I, among many others, intend to keep up my steps into Christmas!

Here is the final results table - there are some wonderful tales to tell of the efforts and experiences of all teams. I will pull those all together in a final report over the next few days. For now, all I can say is congratulations to all 72 steppers and a huge thank you to the many more people of Ashendon who gave so willingly and generously to support the challenge. Once again I say: Ashendon you are AMAZING!

The Sweepstake

Here are the estimates for final total km stepped by the Ashendon Steps into Christmas teams. 

Tomorrow is our final push, be aware the streets of Ashendon could be quite congested!

Good luck to you all, may the best algorithms win!

Entrants donations total £150 so less £50 in prize money (1st £50, 2nd £15, 3rd £10) means we have raised another £100 for the Bernie Bus Meals Appeal. Ashendon you should be very proud of yourselves!

WEEK 3 LEADERBOARD

 Another week of stunning stepping by our teams, with week on week improvements for most teams. Step Sisters achieved a massive 16% increase on last week. Ashy's Dashys have sprinted past Red Hot Chilli Steppers and HEELS 4 MEALS to take 2nd place and are heading in a homeward direction just behind Step it Up.  

Team Captain call outs this week:

Ashy's Dashys - the entire team for great effort week on week!

The Hilltop Hotsteppers - Ethan  clocked a massive 94.5km alone, and did 10583 steps before 8am on Thursday.

Step Sisters - all on the team are applauded for a week on week improvement and for wearing a track around the perimeter of the playing field.

On Monday last week your team captains met on zoom and reported that everyone is really enjoying this challenge and that Ashendon is significantly more active than before we started. So as well as raising a lot of money for the Bernie Bus Christmas Meals Appeal the benefits to our own fitness and wellbeing are becoming apparent. 

Sweepstake Update - all entries received before this announcement are being logged and will be shared in a separate post this evening. I believe we have raised £145 so after prize money we will be donating another £95 to the appeal. 

Have a good final push this week!

HOW FAR WILL WE GO?

To date Ashendon Steps into Christmas has inspired donations of over £1000 to the Bernie Bus Christmas Meal Appeal – Ashendon you are amazing.

To further support the Bernie Bus Christmas Meals Appeal, and to have some fun!, we are running a sweepstake on how many km’s the 72 steppers (in 12 teams) will have travelled IN TOTAL by the end of the 4 week challenge.

 

Scroll down to see results for first 2 weeks. 

Please print the the flyer (or improvise!), fill it in and hand with your entry donation to any of the Team Captains, or me by Saturday 14^th November. They are:

• Francesca Kingsley
• Clare Cook
• Fiona Jacobs
• Amy Kerstein
• Lynda Fairclough
• Louisa Pullen
• Matty (& Paul DeLusigan)
• Imogen Holbrook
• Amelia Rabone
• Sue Lewin
• Vanessa Bates
• Laura Fopp

 

WEEK TWO - LEADERBOARD

It's all change this week as Step it Up take the lead and Red Hot Chilli Steppers leap over HEELS 4 MEALS who now have Ashey's Dasheys snapping on those heels. 

Just look at the week 2 performance: all but one team has beaten their week 1 total AND, if we were focusing on week on week performance the table would be turned. The mighty Utter Poppycock achieved a massive 404% increase - watch out!

The teams are spreading out across England, Wales, the Irish Sea, Ireland and Northern Ireland on the virtual trek around the British Isles 

Callouts for good effort this week:

Utter Poppycock - The Kids! - well done girls.

Festive Footfalls - the Pedometer 😂 - and the 2 young boys are loving the challenge.

Count Steptacular - Vicky with a huge 105.85km and Rebecca for achieving her daily step count and keeping her team captain motivated with her WhatsApp daily updates.

Red Hot Chilli Steppers - two very active children, with a shout out to Amelie who combined football, hockey and netball for 5 hours.

Step Sisters - Shirley, and her puppy Rosie, get a special mention for being top of their team leader board both weeks.

Ashey's Dashys - Sterling work, all!

Chafing the Dream - Sue stepped a whopping 125.58km.

I hope I haven't missed anyone. 

I have some lovely photos to share, which will be in a follow up blog together with announcement of another bit of fun for all!

Keep Stepping Ashendon (and Pollicott) you are amazing. 

WEEK ONE - LEADER BOARD

So the results are in and the grand total walked by the Ashendon stepping community is a massive 3528.55 KM which is 2192.53 miles which is about a 1/3rd of the way across Turkey. It's amazing where working together can get you! 

So here are the results by team - HEELS4MEALS no pressure for the next 3 weeks then! 

To put this in perspective I have plotted approximately where each team has got to on a walking trip across Britain. Seems in a virtual world anything is possible!

I have been asked by team captains to BIG UP Ethan (Hilltop Hotsteppers) who racked up a massive 18.2 km in one day AND Sue P who put in a sterling effort for Chafing the Dream. 

We are already into week 2 and judging by the little footsteps heard on our driveway, plenty of stepping has been done by trick or treaters this evening. Happy stepping everyone.  

What a Beautiful Day for a Walk

I know bad weather always looks worse through a window but today really wasn't the best day when it comes to walking. I set out for my lunchtime stroll around the field (walking the cat!) only to be beaten back by what I described (to our resident geographer as) "a monsoon" (and was quickly corrected). 

So as I reached the end of an inactive work day, with just 2757 steps to my name, I was struggling to find the inspiration to run on the treadmill. Then, out of the grey,  I received this from Team HeLEX Steps Together. It was taken today (yep really) in South Park, Oxford. 

South Park, Oxford

I'm going to put it on the big screen and imagine I'm there as I trundle along the rolling road. 

If anyone else has photos from their stepping adventures please share them with your Team Captain and let them know you are happy for them to be used here. It would be lovely to share what everyone is up to, and experiencing, along the way.