Just one week to go in the Millionaire Team Step Challenge. More than 50 teams have already made it to a million steps, but you and your team still have time to become step millionaires. Of course, there’s only one first place, and the first team to reach the target was ‘The Hotties’ – a cosy club of colleagues from the Purchasing Office and Finance Department. After nine(!) days they became the first to crown themselves step millionaires.
How did you approach the step challenge?
The Hotties: “As soon as the challenge was announced, we put together a team of colleagues from the Purchasing Office and the Finance Department. After all, any challenge is welcome in these bizarre times.”
“We didn’t really have a strategy or plan of action. Our only aim right from the start was to become millionaires. Pretty soon we ended up in the top 10 – that was when things really kicked off. It brought out the competitive side in some of us. Once we made it into the top three, we weren’t going to let go. We were determined to get to one million steps!”
What’s the name of your team and who’s in it?
The Hotties: “We first had an unimaginative name (purchasing department 1), which didn’t quite fit when a few colleagues joined us from Finance, so we switched to the slightly more fun name ‘The Hotties’. Our team’s members are Adinda (Mrs Wish), Pauline (Polly), Ahmed (Hamoudi) and Sven (GabbaH) from Finance and Mouna (Mona Lisa) and Elio (Elius) from Purchasing.”
Apart from the challenge, do you get a lot of exercise?
The Hotties: “Some teammates used to go for walks or runs together at lunchtime even before corona, one teammate likes going to the gym and one also cycles regularly. But very often we were lacking that key bit of motivation to actually get outside, maybe because it was too hot or too cold or too wet, or because Komida was serving up another delicious meal with fries just then.”
Tell us about the competition between you and the Sports Department. We’ve heard you made it into a game?
The Hotties: “Our team consists of very moderate people who exercise very moderately, but the challenge brought about a big change in us. We created a WhatsApp group to keep each other posted about our walks all day long, with photos, videos, live chats and stats. Because of that, there was quite a lot of pressure to go out several times a day, and to make the trip to work on foot instead of by bike for example. Taking the children to school was also done on foot, going to the supermarket or just going for a walk at lunchtime or after dinner. A planned one-hour walk soon turned into two hours. After a few days the first aches and pains started to appear, ranging from stiff muscles to blisters and sports shoes that had given up the ghost thanks to all that walking. But we kept on encouraging and challenging each other, pushing each other out of our comfort zones, trying to be the first team to get to a million steps.”
“At a certain point, the Sports team entered the top three and then climbed to first place. That caused a bit of panic in our team because we were so focused on our first place. Some people felt like giving up, because it looked like we’d never be able to catch up with those sporty types. A pep talk helped us get back on track and gave us a huge boost. That night, the team spirit was incredible. We kept encouraging each other so much that we were even giving each other virtual blister care tips to help everyone get to the finish line (as we saw it J) of one million steps.”
From now on we will take the children to school on foot. 
The challenge motivated us even more to run extra kilometres. 
The cold temperatures did not stop us.
“By the second Tuesday, the million was already in sight. There was a lot of discussion about which strategy to follow – would we all get up at the crack of dawn on Wednesday morning to pass the million mark, or would we try to do it that very evening? At 8 p.m. we called each other and started walking around our own neighbourhoods with video chat on – the atmosphere was great – with the aim of reaching one million that night. The moment came at 10.23 p.m. with 1 000 008 steps on the counter. Cheers went up into the dark, quiet night!”
How many steps do you want to clock up by the end of the four weeks? Do you have a final goal?
The Hotties: “The pace at which we hit our million was too high to maintain for long, so we agreed to keep moving but slightly less intensively. The goal is now to reach two million steps.”