A Very Healthy Competition

How do we maintain our motivation in the depths of winter? How do we remain positive and engaged as a team when we can’t even meet face to face with our colleagues?

That was the challenge facing the KOREC team at the beginning of 2021.

A highly social group who aren’t averse to a challenge, sixteen members of the KOREC Irish team took on the Route 66 Challenge – walking, running, jogging and cycling the 3700km route from Chicago to Los Angeles.

Inspired by their Irish colleagues, Team UK decided on their own challenge which they named, Fit4Feb. They began their challenge on so-called Blue Monday (18^th January) which is considered to be one of the most depressing days of the year – and the goal was to see how far they could get over the 6-week period upto the end of February.

At the time of writing, the Irish and UK teams have stacked up a highly impressive 3200 and 3000km respectively, the Irish team are nearing LA, and the UK team have reached the peak of Mont Blanc!

Both Irish and UK teams are now nearing the end of their routes – what challenge will they take on next?

Looking beyond the impressive numbers, the real achievement has been how the challenge has brought the team together through their shared goal, and motivated colleagues to keep active at a time of the year when it is hard to get outside.

Harriet Brewitt, who recently joined KOREC, explains the difference it’s made to her;

If I massively miscalculate my running route by a few miles, I think about getting further on our European road trip, and it spurs me on!

As both teams near the end of their routes, thoughts have turned to what challenge they take on next. The plan is to join both teams into one, and take on an even bigger, global challenge. Watch this space for the next update!