Legs, laughs and leaderboards. The Equal Experts Walkathon 2025 is a wrap!

Trainers off, foot spa on,  it’s official – the Equal Experts Walkathon 2025 has crossed the finish line! And what a journey it’s been. From sunrise strolls to midnight marathons, 1,700+ of you, across 126 teams, racked up a staggering 493 million steps. That’s 233,589 miles (or 375,925 km), all to raise money for five brilliant causes. 

A mile in their shoes

That step total translates to an amazing £103,600 donated – at £2 for every 10,000 steps – to five fantastic charities across our network:

1. Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) – £32,932
2. The John Lewis Partnership Foundation – £14,634
3. The Exodus Adventure Travels Foundation – £4,607
4. Merlin’s Magic Wand and SEA LIFE TRUST – £24,122
5. The Pret Foundation – £27,305

You’re probably giving your feet a break this week, so whilst you reacquaint yourselves with your sofas over a well-deserved cup of tea, here are some numbers to impress friends and family with:

A true Network

As always, it’s not just about the money. As a network, we want to bring people together, and what better way than in the spirit of good-natured competition? We watched with bated breath as walkers jostled for position, walking, jogging and sometimes dancing in your kitchens when the weather was unkind. 

Walkathon highlights

• The Walking Madrasi kicked things off with a walk round the block – 10 times over!
• India teams shared their favourite podcasts to stay motivated. 
• Steve Morgan didn’t let a cruise slow him down – he logged steps across Europe, Africa and the open sea.
• Amelia Bampton led a Network walk during National Mental Health Awareness week.
• Five of the Sussex Steppers completed a 50k ultramarathon! 

Grit and humour won the day

When blisters threatened and playlists ran dry, it was sheer grit – and humour – that kept you moving. Huge congratulations to Martin from (You Gotta) Stroll With It for winning the entire challenge (and a photo of the day or two)!  Your total step count was phenomenal, as were all who broke the million steps barrier and were this year’s millionaire walkers. Here’s the list for some well earned glory:

1st: Martin

2nd: Paula

3rd: Hajul Anderson

4th: Pawel

5th: StewDeano

6th: Darrell

7th: Gytis Vaitkus

8th: Gosia

9th: Matthew McGuire

10th: Deborah (from my team – thank you Debbi)!

11th: Ben Conrad

12th: SteveD

And here’s a list of the top 10 teams for more well earned glory:

1st: Walking Dread

2nd: TrueNorthAkaTheTippityTopTwiceWinningTotallyTasticTreadShredders

3rd: DPC Core 13

4th: Holy Walkamolies

5th: Dallas Steps It Up

6th: Loyalty Leg-ends

7th: Feet of Engineering

8th: Boot up and git going

9th: Pipeline Express

10th: March of the Discosaurus Recs

You never fail to come up with brilliant team names, so this year we wanted to choose a winner. We couldn’t resist the very clever “Cache me if you can”, named for HMRC’s Multi-channel Digital Tax Platform (MDTP). Notable mentions also go to: 

• Boot up and Git Going
• Waitrose’s Feet of Engineering
• The Wolves of Walk Street
• Pret, Set, Go
• AXAdentally Walking

And we couldn’t resist “Will Run for Snacks” – count us in next year! 

Congratulations and thank you to everyone involved in making May the most memorable month in Equal Experts’ calendar once again. You can now hang up your trainers and treat yourself to a new pair of slippers!