Kathleen Collier

Kathleen Collier

Marketing & Comms
EE Life

June 9, 2026

From small steps to great strides – Walkathon 2026 comes to a close

The trackers are paused, the trainers are (finally) getting a rest, and the Equal Experts Walkathon 2026 is officially done. Once again, you’ve blown us away with your enthusiasm, friendly competition, and commitment to raising money for good.

Over the past month, 1,357 people across 101 teams have turned everyday movement across the globe into something far more meaningful, clocking up a remarkable  416,095,764 between you. That’s the equivalent of approximately 196,894 miles / 316,869 km, a distance that is more than 80% of the way to the Moon!, all in support of causes that matter across our Network.

Turning steps into impact

Every step taken has contributed to a collective donation of £125,000, helping support four brilliant charities:

Not a bad return for a month of choosing stairs over lifts (most of the time).

If you’re now enjoying a well-earned sit-down (or rediscovering muscles you didn’t know you had), here are a few standout stats worth sharing:

Walkathon 2026 numbers: 416,095,764 total number of steps walked - 196,894 miles or 8 laps of the globe. 1,363 participants in 18 countries. 101 teams. 15 millionaire step walkers. £125,000 raised for charity.

More than just a step count

While the numbers are impressive, the real story is what happened around them. This was a shared effort across teams, clients and countries – a chance to connect, compete (just a little) and encourage each other along the way.

We saw early leaders set the pace, quiet climbers steadily rise up the rankings, and a few last-minute surges that made things… interesting! Whether you were pacing in meetings, completing lunchtime loops, or determinedly racking up evening miles, the collective effort was unmistakable.

Moments worth a mention

Every year brings its own character. Here are a few highlights from along the way:

Four previous Millionaire Walkers – Ben Conrad, Hajul Anderson, Stewart Dean and Matt McGuire – told their stories about the Walkathon and shared tips for budding Millionaires.

A number of walking sessions were held alongside coworking events (interesting how many ended in pubs!). And the monthly London Network Thursday transformed into the London Social 5k walkathon edition.

Brian Cunningham set up a collaborative Spotify list  “fEEl the Burn Walkathon 2026,” but spent most of the month recovering from a nasty fall, which damaged his knee…

At DPS, Katie Bianchi arranged 17 teams (including two Millionaire Walkers)!

And we even had a #dadjoke this year (from Igor Garcika):
My grandma started walking 5 km a day when she turned sixty. Today she is ninety-seven, and we have no idea where she is.

When the tough got going (and maybe a bit stubborn)

The Equal Experts Walkathon always starts with high hopes. By week two, enthusiasm meets reality. In week three, creative ways to keep things moving start to kick in. And in the final week, it’s sheer bloody-mindedness that gets us over the finish line.

A huge congratulations to Martin Nebel from The John Lewis Partnership, who led the individual leaderboard with an incredible 1,681,808 steps. And a special nod to everyone else who passed the million-step milestone –  a serious achievement and a very good excuse for new socks.

Top individual walkers:

  1. Martin Nebel
  2. Hajul Anderson
  3. Tunde
  4. Ashish Jain
  5. Stewart Dean
  6. Gavin
  7. Matt McGuire
  8. Darrell
  9. Peter Sparkes
  10. Ben Conrad
  11. Stefano
  12. Meme
  13. Ajay Babu
  14. Frances King
  15. Anna

Team efforts that went the distance

Behind every high step count is a team chat to provide a bit of encouragement and possibly some friendly pressure. Congratulations to this year’s top-performing teams:

  1. Walking Dread
  2. The Hallucinating AI-kers
  3. Holy Walkamolies
  4. DPS Walking Dead
  5. DPS Slow and Steady
  6. DOL-dling along
  7. We thought this was a webinar
  8. Clogs over Crocs
  9. Walk a mile in their shoes
  10. Need for Spedan

The unofficial (but all-important) competition: Team names

As always, the creativity didn’t stop at the step counts.

After much heated debate, questionable judging standards, and absolutely no useful criteria whatsoever, this year’s “Silliest Team Name” winners were:

🥇 Never knowingly undersoled (a team from the John Lewis Partnership)

🥇 Doctors without blisters (a team from Doctors Without Borders)

🥇 Step Family (a team from HMRC DPS)

All were awarded the highest honour available… complete bragging rights.

(There’s clearly as much effort going into naming as there is into walking.)

The last word

Thank you to everyone who took part, whether you led from the front, kept a steady pace or simply joined in when you could – every step counts. The impact goes well beyond the numbers, both for the charities supported and the connections built along the way.

For now, the challenge is complete. Rest, recover, and enjoy not checking your step count every five minutes. Until next year… 👟

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