Bermuda's Live Healthy 100 Day Challenge participants have circled the earth more than eight times to lose more than 7,000 pounds – and now organisers are encouraging the Island to keep going.

At a news conference yesterday, Terry Faulkenberry of Aspen Insurance, Sarah Burrows of the Bermuda Diabetes Association, Health Minister Nelson Bascome, Giorgio Zanol of Lindo's and Troy Vincent, director of Live Healthy America announced the final result of Bermuda's healthy initiative.

The banner hanging in front of the City Hall steps revealed that 7,334 pounds had been lost and 52,282 hours of activity had been logged by the 2,308 participants. Converting the hours of activity into miles participants completed more than 200,000 miles which equals walking around the earth's circumference which is 24,902 miles, more than eight times.

Yesterday Mr. Bascome said he had logged a number of hours on the golf course for his challenge and was proud of the hard-work from fellow participants.

He said: "I will share with you most of my exercise was walking on the golf course with my golf clubs. The results of the 100 Day Challenge are amazing.

"As Minister of Health I take great pride. Success has not been achieved without commitment and hard work. Everyone here today had to make changes.

"Getting healthy is making healthy lifestyle choices. I know the live healthy Bermuda Challenge was in full swing when I saw people exercising at lunch time and after work.

"It has been a true team effort islandwide. I congratulate all the participants for their hard work and urge everyone to continue the healthy habits that have been started through out the remainder of the year."

The 100 Day Challenge was launched with a community weigh-in at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute on January 16.

Organisers expected about 100 people to attend and were overwhelmed by the more than 400 eager participants who showed-up.

Numbers for the online initiative continued to swell during the weeks to more than 2,300 to create more than 300 teams made-up of between two and ten people.

It combined a sense of competitiveness with a support community that would inspire the Island to start making healthier choices when eating and to start exercising more.

As the Island begins to assess it's diabetes epidemic and unhealthy lifestyles, Ms. Burrows said the challenge has seen real results.

She said: "Due to increased activity and better eating habits on the programme we have seen participants with diabetes lower their blood sugar levels to the point where they have decreased their insulin intake and in one particular case, ceased taking insulin altogether.

"Diabetes is a growing epidemic in Bermuda and if we can better the lives of diabetes patients or even prevent just one more person from developing diabetes with this programme we're making great progress."

Yesterday Mr. Faulkenberry announced that the winning team was the family and friend team Fourplay which lost almost 13 percent of their body weight.

As representative of the main sponsors who initiated the programme, he said: "No one said it would be easy but for those who participated and stuck with it we salute their efforts. You are actually an inspiration for the community.

"It was truly a collective effort. The collaboration of business, associations and government along with the community's own interest in living healthier lives is a perfect example of how we can all work together for the betterment of our society."

Mr. Vincent said Bermuda's programme was the first Live Healthy initiative to be held outside of the United States, but is the main topic of talks he gives now to others.

He said: "We have implemented this programme in many parts of the US and Bermuda's results are right up there with the best results we have seen so far.

"We are anxious to share this model and efforts with cities across the United States. Bermuda should be proud of the success they have had and continue the momentum that has been started."