Ben Sladden, our Head of IT Transformation, has raised more than £1,000 for Prostate Cancer UK by completing a walking challenge which saw him take more than 400,000 steps in March.

Ben took part in the charity’s March the Month, a challenge to walk 11,000 steps each day during the month, after a friend was diagnosed with prostate cancer. The challenge also helped Ben, 51, in his recovery from heart surgery.

“I had a cardiac problem last year and in September I had heart surgery so wasn’t able to go to the gym and get back to fitness,” he said.

Being sat at a desk all day meant it was difficult for Ben to be active while at work so when he heard about the challenge, he decided to take part to raise money for Prostate Cancer UK and also boost his fitness.

Ben said: “Normally I would only walk around 2,500 steps per day, only from the car park to the office, I’d pop and get a coffee, so to go from that to 11,000 was a big challenge.

“It’s really hard sometimes, especially when you finish work and then you think ‘I’ve got to go for a five-mile walk now and it’s dark and it’s raining and I’m tired and I don’t want to do this, I just want to be sat on the sofa’.

“During the month, I had a week off work and I really enjoyed walking then. I’d also go out at the weekends and do 15,000 steps; it was nice being out in the fresh air, seeing some of the beautiful countryside we’ve got round these parts.”

On weekdays, Ben would walk around the streets near where he lives in Benfleet. And on weekends, he would walk from Leigh to Southend Pier and back. He also went to Hadleigh Castle, where the mountain biking events were held during the 2012 Olympics.

His exploits throughout the month meant he was able to surpass the number of steps he needed to do by 70,000.

“I should have walked 341,000 steps and I managed to do 411,304 so I was very happy with that,” he said.

When speaking about his walking plans for the future, Ben added: “There’s some beautiful countryside right on my doorstep and I’d never bothered with it before; if I couldn’t drive there, I wasn’t going there, so this has opened up a whole new world.

“I’m thinking about buying a dog as an excuse to go out walking more.”

You can donate to Ben’s fundraising page here.