Popular physical activity game Beat the Street is coming to Chesterfield
An innovative game that has already helped more than one million people get active is coming to Chesterfield from Wednesday 26th February to Wednesday 8th April.
Beat the Street is a free, interactive game that encourages people of all ages to leave the car at home and see how far they can walk, cycle, scoot or run during the six-week game. The game is open to anyone of any age and there are prizes for the teams and individuals who travel the furthest.
Beeping and flashing sensors called Beat Boxes will be placed on lampposts around the town including the villages Duckmanton, Norbriggs, Poolsbrook and Woodthorpe.
Prior to the game, primary school pupils will be provided with fobs while parents and teachers will receive a card from the school so they can accompany children. The wider community can pick up a contactless card from a distribution point. Players then walk or cycle between the 120 Beat Boxes which are spaced half a mile apart – tapping the fobs or cards as they go. The further players travel, the more points they score.
Chesterfield residents are also encouraged to enter workplaces, community groups and sports groups into the game.
The game was devised by GP Dr William Bird MBE in 2010 to get communities active and to make physical activity accessible to everyone. So far, the game has been played all over the UK including East London, Leicester and Liverpool as well as Norway, New York and beyond. Beat the Street Chesterfield is funded as part of a £3.3 million National Lottery funding grant from Sport England; it is supported by Chesterfield Borough Council and delivered by Intelligent Health.
Councillor Jill Mannion-Brunt, cabinet member for health and wellbeing, said: “We are incredibly excited to be bringing Beat the Street to Chesterfield and can’t wait to see how far everyone is able to walk, run, cycle and scoot during the challenge.”
“The idea of the game is to encourage people to get more active and then to continue these new healthy lifestyle habits beyond the end of the game. The feedback from players in other towns who have experienced Beat the Street is often that people find it quite addictive and are not only doing great things for their health, getting out as a family and finding new places close by that they’ve not visited before.”
“It’s also a great way of saving money on fuel, helping reduce congestion and also air quality.”
“It’s open to everyone, so please keep an eye out for more information including where you can pick up a free card.”
More information is available at www.beatthestreet.me/chesterfield and on social media @ChesterfieldBTS
