Marchathon Step Challenge

Step Challenge – Marchathon & Walktober are fun & free annual step challenges to help build team spirit and encourage your colleagues to stick on their shoes and get walking. They are great way to encourage a regular walking routine while encouraging long-term physical activity and modal shift.

Marchathon begins on Monday 3rd March and finishes at midnight on Sunday 30th March 2025.  Team members or captains must enter their steps for the previous week by 2pm each Monday. Team members or captains have until 2pm on Tuesday 1st April to submit their steps for the final week of the challenge online.

To take part, you will need to:

• Get into a team with staff and students in your workplace/campus (3-6 people per team including the captain!)
• Sign up online now at www.activetravellogger.ie
• Get a step counter (i.e. download an app, use a pedometer or other step tracking device)
• During the Challenge: log steps online at www.activetravellogger.ie 

It is a team event and 3-6 team members (including the captain) are required to participate in the challenge. The promotional team in your workplace or campus might be able to help you to find a team.

For contact details email stepchallenge@nationaltransport.ie

It is a team event and 3-6 team members (including the captain) are required to participate in the challenge. The promotional team in your workplace or campus might be able to help you to find a team.

For contact details email stepchallenge@nationaltransport.ie

The team at the top of the average steps Leaderboards at the end of the challenge will win the top challenge prizes.

There will be lots of opportunities for teams to win prizes throughout the challenge, including photo competitions, limerick competitions, quiz competition and many more.

Prizes and spot prizes will be chosen randomly by the organizers. In the event of any dispute regarding the rules, conduct, results and all other matters relating to Step Challenge, the decision of the organiser shall be final and no correspondence or discussion shall be entered into.

You must log your steps on the Active Travel Logger before the weekly deadline. Check out our How to Log My Steps video tutorial.

There are two Leaderboards for the Step Challenge.

All Leaderboards show team averages so that teams of 3 members can compete with teams of 4, 5 or 6 members. Any team on any Leaderboard is open to Quality Assurance by our Coordinators, to ensure that activity logged is accurate and true. Any participant can be asked to detail how they achieved step counts logged. This detail may be published (but can be done anonymously if you don’t wish for your name to be shown).

If we have a query about activity logged and you or your team don’t respond to us in time for publication of a particular Leaderboard, your team rank will be shown as ‘TBC’ until the query is resolved. Our two Leaderboards are:

1. The Overall Leaderboard, showing all teams
2. The Desk Leaderboard, showing teams which are primarily desk-based during the course of the workday.

The Final Leaderboard will be published after the Challenge ends and Quality Assurance has been done on all of the top teams.

Yes, if you have access to smartphone, tablet or PC, you can participate.

All participants must log activity online on the Active Travel Logger website, so once one member of your team can log activity once a week over the course of the Challenge, you are welcome to participate.

If you do not have access to a device to access the Active Travel Logger website, unfortunately you can’t take part.

We would love to offer everyone the chance to participate, however our remit is to work with employers who have signed up to implement travel plans as part of the TFI Smarter Travel programme. If you’d like to find out more about becoming a Partner, get in touch, email stepchallenge@nationaltransport.ie

If you forget to wear your step counter on a particular day, you can use the step count from another day where you had similar physical activity levels.

This applies to both the app and other step counters.

Any participant can log and edit their own steps on the Active Travel Logger.

Register for your workplace group on the site, and find your team name  – your Team Captain’s name will be displayed to help you find them e.g. Happy Feet (Tom Smith).

Once you’ve ‘joined’ your team online, you can log and edit your step totals throughout the Challenge. Please note you have a maximum of 8 days to backlog – less for the final leaderboard, but we will be in touch with all teams to flag this with you.

If you do not set up your own account on the Active Travel Logger, your Team Captain can log/ edit on your behalf. Be sure to give your step totals to them in time for the leaderboards!

Yes they do. You can continue to log your activity manually on the Active Travel Logger website, or you can get your Team Captain to log on your behalf.

Only activities which can be recorded by your step counter are included.

So aerobics, running and gardening are fine – but cycling, swimming or other activities where you do not wear a step counter are not included.

No – walking anywhere, anytime will count. Walking to, or part of the way to work is a great way to increase your steps, to feel good and to reduce your personal and environmental travel costs.

Yes you can certainly take part. You can buy a bicycle odometer from your local bicycle store. The bicycle shop should be able to fit this for you and they will take into account the wheel diameter so that it’s as accurate as possible.

You will use this odometer to keep a record of your distance travelled daily. The distance can then be converted to steps by using the following equation: 1km = 1250 steps. Using this conversion you will be able to log your daily steps on the Active Travel Logger. Your Team Captain can also log on your behalf.

Source of conversion information: 10,000 Steps.

This is a question Team Captains are asked on registration. Team captains should answer ‘yes’ if most members of your team are based at a desk during working hours.

Currently there is no app connected to the Active Travel Logger. If you have a fitness tracker or an app on your smart phone, you’re welcome to use these to track your steps. However you will still have to log into your account on the Active Travel Logger to update your steps on a regular basis. There is a back log window of 8 days. Your Team Captain can also log on your behalf.

Whatever way you track your steps – you must use the same counter for the entire challenge.

Please contact stepchallenge@nationaltransport.ie with the details of your team name and changes. If a new member is being substituted or is dropping out, please let us know as soon as possible.

If you miss the deadline your steps will not appear until the subsequent Leaderboard. However, please note that you will only be able to backlog steps for up to 8 days throughout the challenge. The cut off for entering steps for the previous week up to and including Sunday is 2pm the following Monday. As there is a bank holiday on Monday the 28th of October participants will have an extra day to log their steps by 2pm on Tuesday the 29th of October for the previous week.  The cut off for entering the steps for the final week of the challenge will be 2pm on Monday 4th November 2024.

If you enter the wrong number of steps you should log back into your Active Travel Logger account as soon as possible and resubmit your steps for the date in question. If you are unable to do so please email stepchallenge@nationaltransport.ie

If your technical difficulty is related to your internet connection on campus/workplace, then you will need to contact the IT Department in your organisation/campus

Alternatively contact stepchallenge@nationaltransport.ie with the details of your issue and any errors messages you see.

If you have any questions that are not answered on this page, please contact us, email stepchallenge@nationaltransport.ie

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Details of prizes for TFI Smarter Travel Challenges will be announced on the relevant prizes pages.

Prize winners names/ organisation will be published on our website, reports, social media and other events/ publications associated with the TFI Smarter Travel programmes and the National Transport Authority.

Winners may also be asked to participate in a publicity shoot. By participating in any photo shoots associated with Authority challenges or events, you consent to the use/ publication by the Authority of these images.

To be eligible for Prizes, winners must be resident in the Republic of Ireland, and be employees of an active TFI Smarter Travel Workplaces  Partner organisation.

In the event of any dispute regarding the rules, conduct, results and all other matters relating to TFI Smarter Travel Competitions or Challenges, the decision of the organiser shall be final and no correspondence or discussion shall be entered into.

The Authority reserves the right to award all, some or none of the prizes associated with any event or challenge.