Beat the Street physical activity game is coming to Swadlincote

A popular interactive game that rewards people for walking, cycling and rolling is set to launch across Swadlincote and surrounding villages. 

Beat the Street 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 Derby in spring 2021 where more than 26,495 people signed up and walked, cycled, wheeled and ran 234,379 miles during the six-week challenge.

The game is open to any South Derbyshire resident of any age who would like to take part and is set to take place from Wednesday, 15 March to Wednesday 16 April.

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 explore their local parks and woodlands, and spend time in green spaces together. 

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 Swadlincote website which will go live shortly at www.beatthestreet.me/swadlincote  

Alternatively, players over the age of 13 can download the free Beat the Street app to play the game with their phone.

Players then join a school, community, workplace or a 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 more than 40 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 Swadlincote has been commissioned by South Derbyshire District Council, the National Forest Company, Derbyshire County Council, Active Derbyshire and South Derbyshire Active Schools Partnership with support from the National Lottery via Sport England. It is being delivered by Intelligent Health.  

Councillor Kevin Richards, South Derbyshire District Council’s Leader said: “It’s free to take part in Beat the Street Swadlincote and it’s open to everyone regardless of age, ability or background. It’s an inclusive and compelling game that encourages you to exercise in a fun way with friends and family, plus it’s a great way of getting to know your local area.

“The Beat the Street game has been played in other locations across Derbyshire and has proved to be a fun way of encouraging people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds to get active as a community. We can’t wait to see how many active travel miles the people of the town are able to clock up – let’s see if we can go further than the Derby players did in 2021!"

More information is available at www.beatthestreet.me/swadlincote and on social media at @BTSSwadlincote

15 February 2023