Wood for Trees raises over £1,000 for Concern Worldwide’s Ukraine Crisis Appeal

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In aid of Wood for Trees’ chosen charity of the year, Concern Worldwide and their Ukraine Crisis Appeal, our data experts split into four teams of seven during March 2022 and collectively raised over £1,000 as each team completed a 729-mile virtual walking challenge around Ireland.

Similarly witnessed during last year’s Camino de Santiago charity walk, unsurprisingly, many of our team have quite the competitive streak and set off at pace to not only finish the challenge within the month, but also complete it in the fastest time and see how many more miles/steps could be achieved before 31^st March.

After a wet and muddy start, and with Covid setbacks, everyone began sharing where they’d been donning their walking boots and rain jackets to get their steps in. Some took in the city sights around Bath and surrounding countryside views, while others reached new heights at the Brecon Beacons and Scottish Highlands (not to mention a stint in Brazil!).

Top individuals

From the off, Lucy, Peter and Geoff fought for the top stop. But then Geoff succumbed to Covid, giving others, such as Rob and Lesley, a chance to move up the rankings. However, some of the team decided to hang up their walking boots (and Fitbits!) after crossing the finish line, giving those competing till the end a chance to catch up. The results are in…

1st – Lucy Jenner – 344.3km / 502,082 steps

2nd – Alison Ogden – 316.1km / 460,849 steps

3rd – Laura Leach – 300.6km / 438,328 steps

4th – Geoff Hartland – 276.8km / 403,629 steps

5th – Jon Kelly – 267.8km / 390,436 steps

6th – Lesley Duncan – 245.1km / 357,415 steps

Team results

Team Sham-rockers initially took first place but Good Things Come To Those Who Walk overtook, stormed to the top and stayed there right until the end, reaching the final destination, Giant’s Causeway, on 21^st March with 10 days to spare. Hot on their heels, Sham-rockers closely followed in second place the next day. Psycho Paths respectfully completed the challenge the following weekend, with We Don’t Talk About Josh bringing up the rear on 28^th March, still ahead of the deadline.

1^st – Good Things Come To Those Who Walk – 991.5 miles / 2,296,955 steps

2^nd – Sham-rockers – 947.3 miles / 2,228,009 steps

3^rd – Psycho Paths – 863.5 miles / 1,983,407 steps

4^th – We Don’t Talk About Josh – 801 miles / 1,878,897 steps

A total of 3,603 miles were covered, with 8,377,268 steps taken, virtually across the Emerald Isle (which is our chosen charity’s home turf) all for a fantastic and worthy cause. We all finally met in Giant’s Causeway (or the nearest Irish pub) for a well-earned pint of Guinness (see below). Well done team, thank you to everyone who sponsored us, and roll on the next challenge! Find out what we plan to take on next for charity by signing up to our Cuttings monthly e-newsletter here and following us on social media:

Now our analysts have a full set of data from the challenge to work with, keep a look out on our blog for the analyses and visuals they come up with soon!