Right, it’s time to put the new runners to work.

Five-time Olympic walker and former world champion Rob Heffernan has launched a four-week teambuilding and wellness challenge that could help you and any willing colleagues to kick off those New Year fitness plans.

The 2024 Mazars Steps Team Challenge invites companies, clubs and organisations in Cork to take part from January 15th to February 11th, 2024.

Mazars Managing Partner, Tom O’Brien, Evanne Ní Chuilinn, author and RTÉ sports broadcaster, and Rob Heffernan.

The Challenge is open to teams of four who can choose to walk, or run, one of two virtual routes around Ireland to complete the Challenge. The routes include:

• A four-province route where, with an average of 10,000 steps a day, participants will walk through all four provinces of Ireland.
• A 32-county route where participants will need to average 16,000 steps per day to journey across all 32 counties.

My advice is to set your goals, challenge yourself, and have a blast with your team. It’s not about how far or how fast you go; it’s about taking part.” Rob told us.

Teams can register on the Mazars 2024 Steps Team Challenge website. Once registered, just download the Challenge app, which connects to participants’ phones or fitness devices, to track progress.

This allows individuals to monitor their position on the virtual route and track their team’s progress on leaderboards.

There are over €15,000 worth of prizes to be won, including weekly giveaways to keep everyone motivated along the way and end-of-challenge prizes for both routes.

Prizes include overnight stays for two in InterContinental Dublin with dinner, Fitbit devices, premium tickets for Bruce Springsteen at Croke Park, and over €5,000 in CleverCard pre-paid gift cards.

Check it out here.