HEALTH workers are toeing the line in an initiative to get people walking their way to a fitter future.

A hundred staff and board members from the Durham Dales Primary Care Trust are backing The Northern Echo and Advertiser's Chance to Live campaign by wearing Step-O-Meters, small electronic devices which count the steps and distance the wearer walks.

Everyone taking part will keep a record of their activity and enter the number of steps they take in a league table, with winners receiving prizes.

The trust hopes this will encourage them to increase their daily exercise, particularly walking, which is a cheap and easy way of staying healthy and preventing heart disease.

Chairman Anne Beeton said: "We are leading by example. If we are going to encourage our community to take care of their own health, then we are going to have to demonstrate our own commitment.

Caroline Levie, the trust's specialist heart nurse, said: "The number of people that die prematurely from heart disease in the Durham Dales is higher than the national average.

"We hope the Step-O-Meter initiative will help to encourage people with predominantly sedentary lifestyles to become more active safely.

"The recommendation is that to benefit health and to have a healthy heart we should take 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity at least five times a week."

Wear Valley District Council has a programme of special walks through its Walking The Way to Health initiative.

And there are still places on the ten-mile Great North Walk, which sets off from Wolsingham at 10am on Sunday, July 13. Contact the council on (01388) 765555.