Staff from an island insurance company stepped up to the mark to win £1,000 for charity.

When Charles Taylor plc’s Step-Up Challenge invited teams from across the group worldwide to take part in a charity walking challenge, island-based workers took just six weeks to walk 3.8 million steps.

It was part of the company’s ’wellbeing strategy’, which promotes a healthy lifestyle for its workers.

The Manx CaTs team, which included Lauren McKinley, Silviya Tateva, Richard Sparkes, Sara Cain and Karen Shimmin, saw off competition from 44 international teams to win the top prize.

The team was granted £750 to donate to the good cause of their choice, Beat, a charity that supports people with eating disorders.

* addition, Karen Shimmin was awarded first place in the individual challenge with a total of one million steps and was granted £250, which she also chose to donate to Beat.

David Marock, the group chief executive officer of the company, which is based in Upper Church Street, Douglas, said: ’I am so proud of our colleagues in the Isle of Man for grabbing hold of this challenge. When you’re working in an office it can be difficult to stay fit and this competition was about encouraging our people to be more active, while helping charities. I am particularly impressed with Karen who walked a record one million steps herself and has raised the bar for all our other offices.’

Earlier in the year, the Isle of Man Charles Taylor office had its own step challenge, which allowed workers to get a preview of what they were competing for - a chance to make a difference in somebody’s life while improving the quality of their own. This inspired them to fight for their win in the global Step-Up Challenge.