The ukactive Parliamentary Physical Activity Challenge was announced early last year with the aim of improving physical literacy, both in knowledge and application in UK parliament. The winner of the challenge was the office of Anthony Higginbotham MP.
More than 40 people took part in the challenge, including 18 different offices covering both MPs and Peers. Participants were aged from 22 to 74 years old and were from all countries within the United Kingdom.
Participants were given devices provided by Myzone to track their physical activity levels over four weeks. All participants worked toward gathering Myzone Effort Points (MEPs) which measure effort rather than distance or time spent exercising. The aim to reward people for being physically active regardless of fitness levels.
The results from the top 5 offices were (MEPs shown as average per team:
- Antony Higginbotham MP (Conservative, Burnley) – 11,846 MEPs
- Lord Caithness (Conservative) – 11,375 MEPs
- Martyn Day MP (SNP, Linlithgow and East Falkirk) – 7,999 MEPs
- Damian Green MP (Conservative, Ashford) – 7,100 MEPs
- Kim Leadbeater MP (Labour, Batley and Spen) – 6,118 MEPs
Challenge ambassador Kim Leadbeater MP said:
“Too often physical activity and wellbeing is an afterthought for those of us working in Parliament. With an incentive to be physically active throughout the month, we have shown to ourselves and our colleagues how important it is to prioritise our wellbeing.”
To find out more from Myzone and ukactive on the success of the programme, see here.
