During 15th – 19th April, a total of 37 staff and students from LSBU teamed up to complete a virtual 64-mile walking challenge. The theme of the activity – ‘Walk the Bridges with LSBU’ is a play on both the route, which involved virtually walking across 26 of the Thames’ footbridges, as well as encouraging individuals to build bridges with others during the challenge. Participants were required to log their daily walks on Strava whilst they collectively moved through the virtual route. 

The Make Your Move campaign was focused on promoting individual wellbeing through getting active on your own or with others. There are huge links between an increased level of exercise and improved mood, concentration, and alertness – which LSBU were encouraging staff and students to discover.

As well as participating virtually, some in-person sessions were integrated in this challenge, including a ‘treadmill session’ with a trained instructor and a group wellbeing walk from LSBU Active to Lambeth Bridge and back. The week ended with the group going above and beyond both the initial 64 ‘bridge-walk’ target, and the additional challenge of walking the marathon route (bringing the total up to 90 miles) with a total of 97 miles complete.  

At the end of the challenge, Nicole Suliman a residential community ambassador from LSBU, posted on the Strava group: “Would love if we could do something like this on the regular. Maybe a virtual run club?”. After the challenge, she went on to say “I thought the challenge was a great way to keep others and myself active. I’m a frequent user of Strava and love seeing other people’s workouts and sharing mine as well.”  

Daniel Campbell, the fitness manager at LSBU Active also claimed “I really enjoyed taking part in Friday’s Lambeth bridge walk, great view, good weather and great company. The walk helped refocus my thoughts, and it will make sure I get more active breaks into my working work as the benefits are well worth it.” This positive feedback only highlights the benefit group members felt that activity had on their wellbeing, as well as their enjoyment of being part of the LSBU ‘Make Your Move’ initiative.