Seventy-eight staff from the island’s schools entered the 2018 Parish Walk in response to a challenge from colleagues in the government’s Manx Sport and Recreation agency.

MSR - which is part of Department of Education, Sport and Culture - is trying to persuade more people to get active.

Christian Varley of MSR said: ’As part of the government department tasked with delivering the strategy for sport, it seems only right that we work together to lead from the front and "practise what we preach". ’We have a great relationship with schools but of course the majority of our work is with pupils and students.

’We decided to reach out to staff and set a fun challenge - seeing how many would sign up for the Parish Walk with the aim of making it as far as Santon. We had a fantastic response and are really pleased with the result.’

Sarah Hitchen, who works at Ramsey’s primary school, Bunscoill Rhumsaa, said: ’At Rhumsaa, we enjoy a challenge and when we saw a post about the Parish Walk challenge on social media it was quickly shared between a number of staff, and before we knew it we had 16 participants.

’As a school we are proud that our staff take wellbeing seriously for both staff and pupils. Taking part has increased our awareness of wellbeing and the importance of an active lifestyle.

’It is exciting for us, as staff, to have the opportunity to represent our school in such a large event and we have a lot to live up to as our pupils do such a great job all year.’