THE people of Swindon made the most of the sunshine to walk and cycle thousands of miles on the first day of this year's Beat the Street game.

A total of 13,000 participants signed up and clocked up the same number of miles.

The game is free and interactive and encourages people of all ages to move more and to get active. It started on Wednesday and will continue until October 27 – so there is still plenty of time to get involved.

As well as helping people to become healthier, it also aims to improve air quality, congestion and pollution, while connecting people to their communities and green spaces.

Participants have been given a card they can use to scan into sensors called Beat Boxes that have been installed on lampposts around the town. This records their distance and gives them points for each time they scan their location. The further they travel the more points they receive. 

Primary school pupils have been given fobs while parents and teachers get a card from the school so they can accompany children, or take part on their own. 

The wider community can pick up a contactless card from one of the distribution points which are listed on the website at www.beatthestreet.me/Swindon 

There are leaderboards for schools, community teams and charity teams Jessie May and the Harbour Project, plus each leaderboard is divided into total and average points to ensure that smaller teams are in with an equal chance of winning.

Currently, Haydonleigh Primary School leads the total points leaderboard and Wandering Heights tops the average points leaderboard – but with six weeks to go, it’s still all to play for.

The first week of the game is themed Go Play for players to get to grips with the rules and subsequent weeks have a different focus, from Go Explore to Go Wild and Go Travel.
Beat the Street is run by Swindon Borough Council in partnership with Wiltshire and Swindon Sport (WASP) and Swindon Healthy Schools. It is delivered by Intelligent Health.

Councillor Brian Ford, the cabinet member for adults and health, said: “Beat the Street provides an incredible opportunity to support children and their families to become active as a habit, through a fun and friendly competition.

“Beat the Street also supports our Be the Change campaign which aims to encourage every Swindon resident to take small steps to reduce their impact on the environment.”