Marchathon and Walktober are fun team Step Challenges which take place in March and October each year. They are open to staff and students of workplaces and third level campuses who are partners of the Smarter Travel programme.
Below is a list of workplaces and campuses who participated in Walktober this year. Once an organisation has registered to participate in Walktober, members of staff and students can then get together to form a team of 3-6 people.
A Team Name is chosen and a Team Captain is nominated. Each participant needs to have a working email address and have a registered and verified Active Travel Logger account. The Team Captain will be the main point of contact for a team and will set up the team on the Active Travel Logger website.
For more information on how to get started, creating a team, logging your steps and more, refer to the Resources and Frequently Asked Questions sections by clicking the relevant header at the top of this page.
The deadline to log your steps each week to place on the Weekly Leaderboard is generally 2pm every Monday except for the last week of the challenges when the deadline is extended by one or two days. Participants can backlog their steps for a maximum of eight days during the Challenge.
Having participated in previous step challenges I’ve continued the habit of walking part of my commute’.
Walktober Step Challenge Participant, 2023
The organization’s Internal Coordinator and the National Coordinators keep in touch with participants to let them know about competitions, prizes, Leaderboards and such once the Challenge is live.
During the Step Challenges participants can follow us on social media for regular updates and tips on the Challenge, and of course to see who’s in the lead!
| TFI Smarter Travel Social Media |
| Twitter: @TFISmartTravel |
| Instagram: @tfismartertravel |
Participating organisations
If your organisation is a partner of the Smarter Travel Programme and would like to register to take part, please ask your Smarter Travel Coordinator to email stepchallenge@nationaltransport.ie.
Workplaces
| AECOM | Eli Lilly – Limerick | Office of the Attorney General |
| Analog Devices | EY | Offaly County Council |
| An Bord Pleanála | embecta | OPW |
| Arup | ESB Group | Osprey Hotel and Spa |
| Atkins | Europcar | Philip Lee Solicitors |
| Biomarin International Ltd. | Fingal County Council | Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council |
| Building Design Partnership | Galway City Council | RDJ |
| Celestica Ireland Ltd. | Galway University Hospital | Roughan & O’Donovan |
| Children’s Health Ireland | Gen Digital | Royal Victoria Eye & Ear Hospital |
| CIÉ | H&MV Engineering | Sigmar |
| Clearstream | HID Global | Sixt Ireland |
| Clifton Scannell Emerson Associates | Houses of the Oireachtas | South Dublin County Council |
| Central Bank | HSE Mid West Community Healthcare | Special Olympics Ireland |
| Cork City Council | IBM Ireland Software | Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland |
| Cork County Council | Irish Rail | SuperNode |
| Cork University Hospital | Jacobs | SSE Airtricity |
| Cork University Maternity Hospital | Janssen Sciences Ireland | St. Vincent’s University Hospital |
| DBFL | Kerry ETB | Stryker Orthopedics |
| Deloitte | Kilkenny County Council | Tallaght University Hospital |
| Department of Agriculture, Food & Marine | Lilly GBS | TE Connectivity |
| Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth | Limerick City & County Council | The National Maternity Hospital |
| Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment | Mayo County Council | Thermo Fisher Scientific |
| Department of Finance | Meath County Council | Toast |
| Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage | MKO | Transport Infrastructure Ireland |
| Department of Justice | MSA Safety | Tuath Housing |
| Department of Public Expenditure NDP Delivery & Reform | Munster Rugby | University Hospital Kerry |
| Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media | National Orthopaedic Hospital Cappagh | University Hospitals Limerick Group |
| Department of Transport | National Rehabilitation Hospital | University Hospital Waterford |
| DePuy Synthes Ireland | National Transport Authority | UPMC Aut Even Hospital |
| Dublin City Council | National Treasury Management Agency | Verizon Services Ireland |
| Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council | Nikon | Version 1 |
| eBay Ireland | Northern Trust | Waterford City & County Council |
| Eirgrid | OBW Technologies | Westmeath County Council |
| Wexford County Council |
| ATU – Galway Mayo | Maynooth University | Trinity College |
| College of Further Education and Training, MSC & KRC | MTU Cork | University College Cork |
| Dublin City University | SETU Carlow | University College Dublin |
| Dunboyne College of Further Education | SETU Waterford | University of Limerick |
| IADT | TU Dublin | |
| Marino Institute of Education | TUS Moylish Campus |
Walktober Resources
The following is a sample of the resources which were available to partners to help plan and promote Walktober in their organisations. These resources can be used on a variety of communication platforms such an intranet, emails, social media, newsletters and to display as posters.
Using the Active Travel Logger
How do I log steps on the Active Travel Logger?
How to log your steps using the Active Travel Logger
How do I create a Team on the Active Travel Logger?
There are a number of other Active Travel Logger video tutorials below. Click on the relevant link to view the video tutorial.
Video Tutorials for Team Captains:
How to invite team members using the Active Travel Logger
How to log steps on behalf of your Team Members
Video tutorials for Organisation Coordinators:
How to view teams from your organisation taking part in a challenge
Frequently Asked Questions
Walktober is a fun & free annual step challenge to help build team spirit and encourage your colleagues to stick on their shoes and get walking. Walktober is a great way to encourage a regular walking routine while encouraging long-term physical activity and modal shift.
Walktober begins on Monday 2nd October and finishes at midnight on Sunday 29th October 2023. Team members or captains must enter their steps for the previous week by 2pm each Monday. Team members or captains have until 2pm on Wednesday 1st November 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
Walktober is a team event and 3-6 team members (including the captain) are required to participate in the challenge. The Walktober promotional team in your workplace or campus might be able to help you to find a team.
For contact details email stepchallenge@nationaltransport.ie
Walktober is a team event and 3-6 team members (including the captain) are required to participate in the challenge. The Walktober promotional team in your workplace or campus might be able to help you to find a team.
For contact details email stepchallenge@nationaltransport.ie
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:
- The Overall Leaderboard, showing all teams
- 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 with the cut off for entering the steps for the final week of the challenge being 2pm on Wednesday 1st November 2023.
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 on your 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.
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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.
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