The office of Steve Witherden MP has won this year’s ‘Fit for Office’ challenge, hosted by ukactive in partnership with Myzone.
Taking place across the month of March, the challenge is designed to encourage MPs, Peers and their offices to be physically active for their own health wellbeing, and to recognise its value to constituents.
This year was the third year of the challenge in the UK with a record 207 entrants taking part, from 50 Parliamentary offices.
Fit for Office 2025: Top five offices (Myzone Effort Points average per team):
- Office of Steve Witherden MP (6,197 MEPs)
- Office of Bob Blackman MP (4,078 MEPs)
- Office of Andy MacNae MP (4,008 MEPs)
- Office of Sorcha Eastwood MP (2,874 MEPs)
- Office of Daisy Cooper MP (2,837 MEPs)
Individual MPs were once again recognised for their success in the challenge, with Bob Blackman being crowned the highest-scoring MP after reaching second place in 2024’s leaderboard.
Fit for Office 2025: Top three MPs
- Bob Blackman (3,883 MEPs)
- Andy MacNae (1,188 MEPs)
- Blake Stephenson (1,161 MEPs)
This year also sees the inaugural ‘Spirit of Myzone Award’, which was awarded to Bobby Crosby from the office of Steve Witherden MP, in recognition of his efforts throughout the challenge. Bobby cycled more than 325 miles from Southend-on-Sea to Aberyswyth.
The challenge, which is also held annually with politicians in the US and Australia, began in Westminster in 2022. Last year, the office of Andrew Lewer MP (Conservative) was named as the winner of the ‘Fit for Office’ physical activity challenge 2024 and Alex Davies-Jones (Labour) was the highest-scoring individual MP.
To climb the leaderboard, participants used Myzone’s wearable devices to track their physical activity effort levels and obtain Myzone Effort Points (MEPs). MEPs measure effort rather than distance or time spent exercising and therefore reward people for being more physically active regardless of their previous fitness.
MEP scores for all participants in each office were tallied and divided by the number of participants in each team to provide the average score for each office.
This year’s challenge comes as the Government battles the consequences of declining physical and mental health across the population, with workplace sickness costing £138bn and poor mental health among employees costing businesses £51bn a year.
About 9.2 million people are economically inactive in the UK and the Government continues to search for ways to boost the workforce following its recent welfare reforms.
By encouraging MPs and their staff to take part, the challenge casts a spotlight on the value of physical activity for policymakers’ own health and wellbeing and encourages them to recognise the full potential of the sector.
The sector generates more than £10.5bn in savings every year by reducing cases of disease and relieving the demands on health and social care. Studies show that physical activity helps to prevent 20 chronic conditions, including type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease, many types of cancer, MSK conditions, depression and anxiety, and dementia.
Steve Witherden MP said: “I am incredibly proud that my office has grabbed the gold in this year’s Fit for Office challenge. I am a qualified coach in two different sports and worked in fitness suites in Denbighshire and Ceredigion many moons ago and know how important it is for your physical and mental health to stay active.
“The other week I had to bob so repeatedly to speak during Science, Innovation and Technology Questions that my quadriceps are now almost as big as those of my staff member Bobby, who cycled the width of England and Wales – including across our Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr constituency – in his quest for pole position.”
Spirit of Myzone winner Bobby Crosby said: “In my youth, I was much more interested in guitars and strategy games than staying fit, but in the past few years I have discovered the joys of an active lifestyle.
“I got involved in the Fit for Office challenge for that extra bit of competitive motivation to get up from the computer. One month can make such a big difference – I am running regularly again, the fittest I have ever been, and even raised over £1,500 for a mental health charity in our constituency through the challenge.
“I would strongly encourage all parliamentarians and staffers to take part next year.”
Andy McNae MP said: “This was a great challenge that engaged our whole team. It certainly raised our levels of activity and everyone felt the benefit.”
Clemency Lion, Director of Research, Policy & Communications at ukactive, said: “We’ve seen more Parliamentarians than ever get involved in this year’s Fit for Office challenge, with some wonderful stories from our participants.
“Congratulations to all the teams and individuals who got involved this year and we hope to see them supporting our mission to get more people active across the UK.”
Jay Worthy, Global CEO of Myzone, said: “We’re thrilled to congratulate the office of Steve Witherden for taking the top spot in this year’s Fit for Office challenge, and an equal shoutout to every Parliamentarian who stepped up, moved more, and embraced the spirit of healthy competition.
“At Myzone, we believe that gamification, simplification, and community are key to making movement stick. This challenge brought those three pillars to life, showing just how powerful it can be when technology supports behaviour change. By focusing on effort over ability, we’ve made activity more accessible and more enjoyable for everyone involved.
“It’s encouraging to see policy makers leading from the front; walking the talk when it comes to physical activity and wellbeing. We hope this challenge has not only inspired healthier habits but also sparked deeper conversations about the role of movement across government for the health of our nation.
“We’re excited to see the impact this initiative continues to have in the months and years ahead.”
To find out more about ukactive’s work to get more people active, email publicaffairs@ukactive.org.uk
More People More Active More Often
