Start walking and stop cheating

Some people have taken a less-than-sporting approach to the #startwalking challenge

There have been complaints about people cheating by hiring others to walk for them. Kiyoshi Ota / Bloomberg News via Getty Images

A healthy attitude is contagious but don’t wait to catch it from others. Be a carrier, British playwright Tom Stoppard once said, and though his newest work The Hard Problem has been likened to a “brain gym”, he would probably agree that healthy living is a complete package.

This is certainly what informs our #startwalking challenge, which began with an invitation to readers to sign up, start walking and get their steps recorded using their preferred fitness tracker. It's healthy competition and delivers an egalitarian bonus – everyone wins by getting fitter even if you don't get the prize.

For some, the competitive spirit has consumed them. There have been complaints about people cheating by hiring others to walk for them. While this is good for the substitute’s fitness it rather defeats the point of the exercise. As does vigorously moving your hands or strapping your tracker to your dog to boost your steps count. Just do it, as Nike says, but, please, do the challenge in the right spirit.