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Meet the winning team: Twisted Blisters

Team Twisted Blisters from Shetland Islands Council came in at the top of the leaderboard in this year's autumn Step Count Challenge. Team captain Wendy shares how she and her team are staying active whilst working from home.

Published: 13/12/2021

Our name ‘Twisted Blisters’ might be familiar, we have won the challenge before. Following on from the win there was a feature in our local paper and on Shetland radio. Interestingly we got lots of comments from people who had seen this, most were kind but I had two which were not so. One person suggested we had been less than honest about our steps as they were so high: and the other said that we were too fit and the challenge wasn’t for the likes of us….

In Shetland we have a lot of big weather and darkness at this time of year and the autumn challenge comes just at the right time to emotionally prepare yourself for the winter. We get our head torches ready, check our waterproofs and then we got out there. In the dark, in the rain, in the hail – and it is great. It is easy to stay indoors and feel oppressed by the weather and lack of pavements or street lights, but it is so good for your physical and mental wellbeing to get out into it.

Personally I have been working from home since the pandemic started, my work is emotionally challenging and it can be tough not seeing colleagues each day. But I get up and out for a walk every morning before work, I commute around my village so that I am not in slippers all day. That walk sets me up brilliantly for the working day. And during the challenge it was extended and made me feel great.

There may be some who question all of the teams’ motivation for this kind of challenge, and we do it for different reasons, but mostly we do it because we can. And there are plenty who cannot – and we do it for them as well.