This year’s Five A Day February marked a turning point in our annual Personal Challenge. Not only did we quadruple the number of people taking part but every single participant finished – there were no drop outs!
We approached the end of January rather unsure what the take up would be, following concerted promotion on our social channels. We’re a niche brand and so don’t have the reach that many accounts have. Also, we’re not that inclined to ‘comply’ with what the algorithm wants – we’d rather give advice that actually fulfils a need in people, than play to the crowd.
So when we saw that thirteen people registered walks or runs on that first day, we were delighted. Now you might think that thirteen participants is nothing at all to write home about, let alone to write a blog post about but for us, this number meant real, tangible, organic growth. Growth that is sustainable because it’s growth built on simply sharing information and encouraging people to have a go.
We were more than delighted with the response we had and with the participants that joined us for the ride. It shows that the idea struck a chord with people and that Five A Day February is a challenge that can help build frequency and consistency – two of the three essentials for building functional fitness.
An international affair
One of the really enjoyable aspects of Five A Day February 2026 was the breadth of participants, literally from every corner of the globe. We, of course, had walkers from the UK but then we had participants in Canada, USA, Australia, South Africa, Hungary, France and Denmark too. It really was a global crew of likeminded people, all pursuing the goal of walking or running a minimum of 5km every day through February.
Well…. not everyone was pursuing that goal. Five A Day February wouldn’t have been the same without Jack from Canada laying down 20km minimum every day! He even clocked up 25k on the last day to reinforce his achievement.
To say that Jack was an inspiration to others taking part would be an understatement and his rule as the king of Five A Day February remains as strong as ever.
But another feature this year was the humorous and inventive sessions that people had, to complete their daily ‘5’. Chiz, our old friend from the Sport Walk Community on Facebook completed his first few walks around motorway service station car parks during his breaks as a truck driver.
Meanwhile, Jack began his 2026 campaign with some 20km walks around an athletic track…. indoors, while Jojo from France gave us the delights of potato collections and camel encounters!
Another really enjoyable element was to see participants supporting and encouraging each other on the Sport Walk Strava Club, where we were keeping track of everyone’s achievements. The club served the role of challenge administration rather well and we think we’ll keep this as a central focus for Five A Day February in the future.
Unlike some online challenge portals, our Strava Club gives all club members the opportunity to follow what’s going on and to support participants, giving them kudos on their daily activities. It’s much more of a community experience than simply logging your distance, so we will be keeping the Club as the challenge hub in future years.
Overall, we’re delighted with this year’s event and as we reflect on it more and more, we’re increasingly convinced that Five A Day February is a ‘Red January’ in waiting. It’s purely a matter of time until it can take its place among larger, higher profile events.
We want to formally thank those who took part for their support and their enthusiasm. We also want to thank those who raised funds for or made a donation to Sport In Mind, our designated charity for Five A Day February 2026.
Needless to say, we’re already looking to 2027 and what we can do to expand participation further, not simply so we can gain a larger following but because we’ve seen the benefits this challenge can bring on a personal level and we want more people to experience that.