City to get moving as Beat the Street returns

Beat the Street, the exciting walking, running and cycling game which took Wolverhampton by storm in 2016, is set to return next month.

More than 27,000 people young and old played along last year, collecting points by swiping their Beat the Street game cards against Beat Boxes dotted all around the city – and travelling nearly 200,000 miles in the process.

Now the fun, free challenge in which people are rewarded for exploring the City on foot or bicycle is set to return from Wednesday 15 March, until Wednesday 3 May 2017, as part of a 12-month Sport England project designed to increase physical activity levels in Wolverhampton.

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. 

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 which all the family can get involved in. I would encourage everyone to get involved and see if you can beat the street!”

Beat the Street is run by Intelligent Health and founder Dr William Bird MBE said: "Sport England’s strategy is important, ambitious and comes at a critical time for both the NHS and the nation’s health. Physical activity has more health benefits than any other single intervention and is the means to a healthy community.

"We need to empower people to make the change to a more active lifestyle. Beat the Street delivers this in a fun and engaging manner and then supports people into further activity whether formal sport, activity in green spaces or continuing to walk or cycle around their town.

"We ran a successful Beat the Street in Wolverhampton in 2016 and are delighted to be able to work with the great team at the City of Wolverhampton Council and local partners again.”

Councillor Paul Sweet, the City of 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.

Registration for Beat the Street 2017 will open shortly. Players will be able to pick up their Beat the Street game card and map showing the location of the 200-plus Beat Boxes which will be placed around the City from their local library, leisure centre or GP’s surgery.

Schools across Wolverhampton will again be competing against one another to see who can collectively travel the furthest and win up to £750 of sports and fitness equipment. Adult players are also invited to create their own teams or register to support an existing team or school to be in with a chance to win prizes such as vouchers, goody bags and other prizes.

Please follow @BTSWolves on Twitter or search ‘Beat the Street Wolves’ on Facebook for more information.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

27,727 people took part in Beat the Street in Wolverhampton in 2016, 11% of the local population, including 14,075 adults and 13,661 children. The most commonly reported benefits were feeling more healthy, getting fit, having fun, spending time with friends and family and exploring the local area. Nine out of 10 people thought that Beat the Street helped them be more active (90%) feel healthier (88%) and walk more than usual (87%). The proportion of people meeting the Department of Health’s physical activity target increased from 36% to 45% and increased further to 50% seven months later. The proportion of people reporting being inactive (0 or 1 days) reduced from 18% to 11% and further to 8% seven months later. The proportion of people reporting walking for 15 minutes or more on 5-7 days per week increased from 40% to 62% and further to 65% seven months later.

Beat the Street is a rolling 12-month intervention run by Intelligent Health, founded by Dr William Bird MBE. Its principles are simply to:

•      Base the game on fun to reach all groups

•      Keep the community and particularly the primary schools at the heart

•      Connect people to each other, their community and to nature

•      Empower the communities to continue

•      Encourage more people to volunteer

•      Improve activity, wellbeing, community cohesion, health and resilience

For more information, please contact:

Intelligent Health – Niall Norbury, Intelligent Health Communication Officer, niall.norbury@intelligenthealth.co.uk, 01189 357371 or 07557 235497

City of Wolverhampton Council – Paul Brown, Communication Manager, 01902 555497, paul.brown@wolverhampton.gov.uk

Sport England – Nora McGuire, Sport England Communication Officer, nora.maguire@sportengland.org.

Issued by the City of Wolverhampton Council’s Corporate Communications Team.

For more information, please call 01902 555439.

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