‘Beat the Street’ – a fun six-week competition that encourages participants to walk, run and cycle as far as possible in a journey around the world is coming to Salford in September.
The initiative will transform Salford into a real-life game in which residents are challenged to join a team and see how far they can travel.
From 28 September to 2 November, special ‘Beat Boxes’ will be going up at various locations across large parts of the city.
Residents can pick up special cards at libraries and other locations which they can tap against Beat Boxes to log their journey and receive points for how far they travel – and points mean prizes.
Players will be encouraged to join and create teams to be able to win big prizes. There will be prizes for the teams that travel the furthest including £500 worth of spots and fitness equipment from Decathlon for the top team and the team that tops the average points leaderboard. There are also weekly ‘lucky tap’ prizes which anyone taking part can win.
This initiative is run in Salford by Intelligent Health on behalf of Transport for Greater Manchester and GreaterSport and is supported by Salford City Council, Salford Community Leisure and Salford Clinical Commissioning Group. The free, fun health scheme has already been launched in other towns and cities across the UK including Liverpool, London, Reading and Birmingham.
Councillor Tracy Kelly, lead member for health and wellbeing at Salford City Council, said: “Good health is so important and people will see a lot of benefits from even a little more activity. We’re very excited to launch this new project which will help local people be more active, get healthier and have fun.
“We are looking forward to seeing people across Salford getting involved in Beat the Street.”
Dr William Bird, founder of Intelligent Health, the company that will deliver the Beat the Street project, added: “We developed the game to add a competitive element to physical activity as being active has a positive effect on 23 long term health conditions, including cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes and breast and colon cancer. Additionally, getting out and about in the fresh air is good for mental health, reduces traffic congestion and allows participants to enjoy their area.”
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