NORTH Ayrshire Active Schools has hailed its first step challenge of 2021 a huge success, with over 2,000 people taking part.

But there’s no time to sit back and enjoy the success as they have launched a new challenge this week and hope to smash the impressive numbers of steps from last month.

During the first DREAM North Ayrshire challenge 933 pupils, 718 teachers, 348 parents, 51 council workers and 115 steppers from other clubs took part.

And they clocked up hundreds of thousands of steps between them with schools competing against each other, in a friendly way, to reach the top of the leaderboard each week.

Leeanne Mcphail of North Ayrshire Active Schools said: “The first five week challenge had a fantastic response and everyone, from pupils to senior management at North Ayrshire Council got involved. We were amazed at how many steps people were getting in each day, some even walking round their house if they were shielding.”

Now, the new step challenge will see participants be able to choose a tier of steps to choose from – from 3,500 a day in the Scotland challenge to 8,000 a day in the UK tier; 12,000 a day in the European tier and 15,000 in the World Wide level.

Leeanne explained: “This time around we thought we would encourage people to choose different tiers and that will help them reach their daily targets.

“People can get out there to walk, run, cycle and even scoot to get their names on the leader boards. And look out for our updates and pictures of people getting their steps in on our social media, last time it was great to see so many share their walks with us.”

This time around steppers will also be able to track their steps until midnight, allowing them to have longer to do even more.

Leanne Hillan-Fowler, Active Schools Manager added: “The focus of the Dream North Ayrshire is all about getting people to feel better, to get outside and enjoys the health benefits of being active.

“Anyone taking part should encourage school friends, colleagues and family members to get involved, let’s bring the school community together.”

To sign up and register visit bit.ly/313f3Pz.