Employees from businesses across Norfolk and Suffolk walked the equivalent of three times around the world as part of a four-week workplace health campaign.

The Healthy Ambitions One Million Step Challenge saw 143,876,510 steps clocked up by more than 120 teams from the two counties, with each team member pledging to walk at least 10,000 steps a day - the equivalent of about five miles.

Jemma Pennick, member of 'The Walkaholics' team and marketing manager at Liftshare in Norwich, was the winner of the individual with the highest step total, with just under 600,000 steps.

This was three times the amount many people were aiming for.

Richard Powell, chief executive of Healthy Ambitions, said: 'Walking is the simplest form of exercise and we are really glad that so many teams signed up and did so well. At present, the UK leads the European league tables for levels of stress, obesity and cardiovascular disease.

'We want local businesses to see the benefits in a healthy workforce and being active - research has shown that by implementing a structured workplace health and wellbeing programme, businesses can reduce sickness absence by an average of 30 to 40 per cent.

He added: 'Just 30 minutes of walking a day can reduce body fat, boost the immune system, aid digestion, and can even reduce the risk from cancer.'

The team with the highest step total was Fast Step Facilities from Suffolk New College, which collectively made 2,199,849 steps over the four weeks.

Suffolk New College was followed closely by Suffolk County Council's partners Customer Service Direct with one of its 23 teams - CSD Striders - logging 2,154,069 steps.

The campaign began on September 16 and a special leader board went live online that day, showing the results of all who took part.

The teams were asked to cover one million steps over a four week period with the aim of getting each team member to walk at least 10,000 steps on five days of the week, for four weeks.

• Healthy Ambitions is an independent charity. to find out more visit www.healthyambitions.org.uk.