Kilkenny urged to get involved in Every Step Counts - Ireland’s largest annual steps challenge

Irish Life is calling on people in Kilkenny to join the nation’s largest steps challenge for a third year to encourage a healthier Ireland.

The 2022 Irish Life Health of the Nation research found that people in Ireland are exercising less and feeling more isolated. The Irish Life GAA Healthy Clubs Challenge 2023 aims to address this by bringing local communities together while supporting a healthy and active lifestyle.

Taking place from January 11 to February 15, Every Step Counts, will encourage GAA Club members and non-members to get stepping towards a goal of 4,000km per club, with the chance of winning one of three sports vouchers from the €5,000 prize fund available in each province.  

The 2022 Irish Life Health of the Nation Research showed the number of people aged 35 - 54 describing themselves as feeling lonely or isolated has almost doubled since 2019 (increasing from 19% to 34%). The research also revealed that more than 50% of adults find it difficult to motivate themselves.

Every Step Counts aims to offer community members a safe and open space to get active and involved with their community. Participants from previous steps challenges claimed exercising in groups encouraged them to continue their exercise for longer and also promoted a sense of community and accountability.

The 2021 and 2022 Every Step Counts challenge, available through Irish Life’s MyLife app, has motivated more than 28,000 participants from almost 700 clubs, tracking over 5 million kilometres each year. Irish Life’s ambition in 2023 is to have over 800 clubs in the challenge with representation from every county and will be encouraging participants to strive for 6 million kilometres.

The five-week challenge will also help participants who increase their steps by 2,000 per day to improve their overall health and reduce their risk of developing dementia and dying from cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Commenting on the upcoming challenge, Professor Niall Moyna, School of Health & Human Performance at DCU, said: “The fact that in 2022 we saw 28,600 people engaging from almost 700 clubs over five weeks, is phenomenal. The overall impact walking and steps challenges have had on public health long-term is incalculable – a recent study saw that each additional 2,000 steps per day – up to 10,000 – was associated with 8-11% fewer deaths and a decreased risk of both heart disease and cancer."

Commenting on Every Step Counts, Stacey Machesney, Head of Health and Wellbeing Irish Life, said: “At Irish Life, we want to help people live healthier and fuller lives. We’re delighted to be bringing Every Step Counts back for a third year, in conjunction with the GAA and local communities, now making it the largest steps challenge in Ireland. In the past year, our sponsorship of the GAA Healthy Clubs has gone from strength to strength, with the entire community benefiting when a local club is provided with the skills, information and guidance to improve health, and we know Every Step Counts will be a great example of this.

Challenges like Every Step Counts, available through Irish Life’s MyLife app offer the perfect way to keep participants engaged with their activity, accountable to their goals, rewarded and connected with their teams through an app. 

To register for Every Step Counts, please visit the registration page.