Beat the Street physical activity game is coming to Walsall
The popular interactive Beat the Street competition that rewards people for walking, cycling and rolling is set to take place in Walsall in March and April.
Beat the Street is a free game that was created by GP Dr William Bird to encourage people to explore their local areas and to make exercise fun.
The game has been played by more than 1.5m people in more than 120 locations in the UK, including Dudley (25,000+ participants) and parts of Birmingham (3,489 participants) last year.
The game has been designed to get communities to move more and to make small lifestyle changes, such as walking or cycling to school or work every day.
Beat the Street not only has a significant impact on increasing low levels of physical activity amongst adults and children, but also helps reduce congestion, improves air quality, and helps families spend time in green spaces together.
The game is open to anyone of any age who would like to take part and takes place across Birchills Leamore, Willenhall South and Bentley & Darleston North from Wednesday, March 15 to Wednesday, April 26.
Children use a card and map which will be provided by participating primary schools, and adults can pick up a free card from one of the distribution points listed on the Beat the Street Walsall website which will go live shortly at beatthestreet.me/walsall.
Alternatively, players over the age of 13 can download the free Beat the Street app to play the game with their phone.
Players can join a school, community, workplace or charity team and there are prizes for the teams that travel the furthest with vouchers for books and sports equipment on offer.
There is also a leaderboard for individuals, as well as a total points leaderboard and an average leaderboard so opportunities for teams of all sizes to win prizes.
Once the game is underway, players find their nearest “Beat Box” which will appear on lampposts around the borough.
There will be 35 of these sensors that record each players’ point tally. These sensors are contactless so that you don’t need to touch them – simply hover your card over the Beat Box and it will beep and flash to record your points.
Visit two Beat Boxes within an hour and collect 10 points for each Beat Box, then keep going.
Beat the Street Walsall has been commissioned by Walsall Council and the Canal & River Trust with support from the National Lottery via Sport England. It is being delivered by Intelligent Health.
Ian Carey, director of Active Black Country said: “What better way to get outdoors and get active this Spring than getting involved with Beat the Street. Free and inclusive you could join in with – or compete against – family and friends and win prizes along the way.
“Active Black Country are delighted to support Beat the Street- our aim is to make it as easy, and accessible, for everyone to be able to be more active and move more, and this game definitely does that!”
More information will be available at beatthestreet.me/walsall and on social media at @BTSWalsall
