Express & Star

Time to Beat the Street and tackle more exercise

A city-wide challenge encouraging people to walk, run and cycle more is set to return after more than 27,000 people took part last year.

Published

Beat the Street, which sees people collect points by swiping game cards against 'beat boxes' across the city, was brought into Wolverhampton to encourage people to do more physical activity.

Now the free challenge will return from March 15 until May 3 as part of a 12-month Sport England project.

With more than one in four people in England doing less than 30 minutes of physical activity a week, Sport England is keen to see whether, by taking part in Beat the Street, people are inspired to take up regular exercise, either informally through walking or cycling or via structured and organised sessions.

Last year, people in Wolverhampton almost reached the 200,000 mile barrier in their efforts to improve their lifestyle.

Councillor Paul Sweet, the Wolverhampton council's cabinet member for public health and wellbeing, said: "We are absolutely thrilled that Beat the Street is returning to Wolverhampton this spring.

"Last year's inaugural event took the City by storm, with thousands of people young and old hitting the streets and playing along.

"In doing so they took a big step towards improving their health and wellbeing, as well as having great fun at the same time.

"Together, we clocked up nearly 200,000 miles – and I am sure we can go even further in 2017."

The whole project, supported by £180,000 of National Lottery funding, will run over the course of the next 12 months, with Beat the Street players invited to remain active by taking part in further activities offered by local providers and within the local community.

Director of Community Sport at Sport England, Mike Diaper said: "Staying active is really important for our mental and physical health, but we know than many people don't feel able to get involved in either sport or physical activity.

Thanks to National Lottery funding, Beat the Street offers a fun and rewarding challenge."

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.