Walktober is a fun team Step Challenge which takes place during October each year. The Step Challenge is open to all DCU staff and students, with prizes on offer for participants throughout the course of the challenge.

Walktober 2023 

This Smarter Travel step challenge is a great way to reconnect with friends and colleagues and to make new friends. There are also lots of prizes to be won, including vouchers for the DCU restaurants and coffee docks. 

Register for Walktober here!

To participate all you need is a team of 3-6 friends/colleagues from within DCU (staff or students), select a team captain and team name and all sign up to Active Travel Logger website. There are instructions there if you are having any difficulties. If you have signed up from previous challenges then you can use the same login details. 
 
You do NOT have to walk together in teams but you can! All steps can be counted using phone/pedometer/smart watch etc. from Monday to Sunday!  Wheelchair users can use an odometer - see Walktober website for more info including participant guide.

You must be able to verify your steps in case you are randomly selected by the NTA - you can do this with a screen shot of steps on your phone, step tracker etc. Note: you may not be able to receive prizes if you are unable to verify how many steps you've taken.

The National Transport Authority (NTA) also run competitions each week with their own prizes on offer. You can stay up to date on what those competitions involve by keeping an eye on here.

The details for the weekly internal DCU competitions are as follows:

Week 1 – Best team name; get your thinking caps on when naming your team. The wittiest names typically win this prize!

Week 2 – Best themed team photo/collage; while it's not necessary for Walktober teams to walk together to clock up your steps, we do love to see teams meeting up and getting their steps on! Get a group pic or make a picture collage of your team out stepping together and email it to sustainability@dcu.ie to be in with a chance of winning prizes for your team.

Week 3 – Best active commuting suggestion; at the bottom of DCU's Smarter Travel webpage you will find a feedback form. Give us your feedback on how to improve DCU for those that walk to campus and we will award a prize for the best suggestions.

Week 4 – Overall DCU winning team (most steps as per Active Travel Logger) 
 
Need a Team or Team Members?
As there is a minimum requirement of three members per team; If you need more members for your team or would like to join a team please let us know by email (sustainability@dcu.ie) and we will try to match you up. 

Health and Environmental benefits 
Walking has many health benefits and commuting by foot is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint, just two more great reasons to get involved with this fun challenge! The 2023 Walktober Step Challenge will kicks-off today, October 2nd and runs until October 29th. Walktober is a fun, and free, team Step Challenge that is open to all staff and students. 
 
Active commuter facilities at DCU
DCU has a host of active commuters facilities, such as showers and changing facilities, on all campuses. More information on these facilities, plus some useful resources to help plan your journey, can be found here.

The Ready, Set, Cycle programme aims to encourage and support staff and students to begin, continue or increase cycling on their commute and beyond. Participants have the chance to win some great prizes while also being offered guidance and resources on many aspects of cycling – from what bike suits their specific needs to how they can purchase a bike through the Cycle to Work Scheme.

Taxsaver Commuter Ticket Scheme

This scheme is available to DCU staff. It is a salary sacrifice arrangement where DCU purchases annual commuter tickets on behalf of employees and the cost is recuperated through payroll, thus employees don’t pay PRSI, USCI or pension-related deductions.

The savings on your travel expenses can be quite significant. The Scheme applies to the Annual Travel Passes issued by Irish Rail, Dublin Bus, Luas, Bus Eireann and Matthews Coaches.  

Find more information on the DCU Travel Benefits page or on Taxsaver.ie.