From April to June 2024, the HW Martin (Traffic Management) team – Jamie Cunningham (Operations Manager), Tom Butler (Framework Manager), Jess Stubbs (Assistant Quantity Surveyor), and Morris Crookes (Traffic Management Foreman) – walked an incredible 14,225 miles to raise money for Children’s Hospice South West. This amazing charity offers hospice care for children and young people living with life-limiting conditions, and supports their families too.
The team took on the challenge of walking 4,500 miles, the equivalent of the Strategic Road Network. Other walkers from the South West Community, delivering services on behalf of National Highways, also joined in, aiming to rack up the most steps and, more importantly, raise funds for Children’s Hospice Southwest. The event was organised by Ringway.
Jamie, Tom, Jess and Morris went above and beyond. Not only did they walk a total of 286 hours combined, but they also tripled their goal, won the competition, and raised an awesome £950 for charity.
“I decided to take part because it was for charity and it didn’t really interfere with my day-to-day,” reflects Morris Crookes. “It started out casual, but then I found myself walking more with the dogs and parking further away at supermarkets. Once I saw we were third on the leaderboard after week one, I stepped it up. I even started going for morning runs at 5am, four days a week.”
The team give it their all, beating 33 other teams to win the challenge. Morris even took third place overall in the independent portion of the competition. “Winning third overall for most steps walked was a bonus, it was nice to come home with a trophy,” says Morris.
Is Morris still walking miles every day? “I try to keep up the steps, but not as much as I should,” he admits. “I still go for runs and take the dogs out when I can, so that’s something. Hopefully, Ringway will host another step challenge next year and invite us again—I think we could win it.”