The Big Devon March was a Devon-wide walking campaign delivered by Active Devon on behalf of Devon County Council, with funding awarded by the Department for Transports Sustainable Travel Transition Year Fund.
As part of the funding award, Active Devon delivered a walking challenge targeted at workplaces to engage more people in walking activity to, from and during work.
The walking challenge aimed to;
- Engage between 25 and 30 businesses;
- The target areas included East of Exeter, Newton Abbot to Torbay corridor and Barnstaple to Bideford Corridor.
The campaign was administered through the Workplace Challenge website (www.workplacechallenge.org).
impact (behaviour change)
- 57% of particpants said they felt more healthy from being engaged in campaign
- 72.5% of participants motivations towards physical activity increased as being involved in campaign
impact (participant)
- 446 new walkers logged at least 1 mile during the month of March
- 12% of new walkers registered as inactive at the point of starting (less than 30 minutes of activity each week)
- 77 Workplaces and departments took part in the campaign
- 1812 KG of C02 was saved as a result of Active Travel journey, the equivalent weight of an average family car
- 28,488 miles were travelled during the campaign, exceeding our original aspiration of 24,901 miles
impact (reach)
- 700 people signed up to the Workplace Challenge
- 2500 (circ) Social Media followers
- 5,000 reached through other platforms (e.g. direct staff newsletter, DCC Insider, Chamber of Commerce Business Magazine, Business PA Network)
Participants involved in the campaign said
"the whole team went for a walking meeting, this encouraged people to be more creative in their thinking and everyone particpated in the meeting
I like the leaderbaord option - gave a sense of competition
staff stated they feel healthier and have a better balance of work and well being along with a stronger sense of comaraderie
Read the full Impact report Big Devon March Impact Report (v2).pdf