Beat the Street, backed by Sport England, arrived in Yorkshire on Wednesday. The campaign was launched at Barnsley Town Hall by the Mayor of Barnsley, Councillor Pauline Markham and Reds mascot, Toby Tyke!
Running from Wednesday 5 June until Wednesday 17 July, Beat the Street is a free, fun challenge, and participants will be rewarded with points and prizes for exploring their town on foot, scooter or bicycle.
More than 250 special sensors called ‘Beat Boxes’ have appeared across parts of Barnsley. Players tap the Beat Boxes with cards and fobs registered to online accounts to track their journey and earn points for themselves and their team – the more Beat Boxes people swipe during a journey, the more points they earn.
Schools and community groups from across Barnsley have been chosen as the latest Yorkshire participants in the nationwide campaign. Beat the Street has seen hundreds of thousands of children, families and colleagues competing against each other to see if they can travel the furthest, climb the leaderboards and win prizes including sports, crafts and book vouchers. Players can choose to join Toby Tyke’s team when they sign up, simply select his team in the dropdown menu.
Cllr Jim Andrews, Cabinet Spokesperson for Public Health, said: “Beat the Street is a fantastic initiative to get children, families and our communities active. I’d encourage everyone to sign up and get involved.
“Active travel benefits our communities in so many ways, from improving health and wellbeing, to reducing air pollution. We’re really excited to have Beat the Street here in Barnsley and can’t wait to see everyone joining in.”
In addition to the leaderboard prizes, registered players can also win weekly ‘Lucky Tap’ prizes for playing along – including vouchers and experience days.
Beat the Street Barnsley is delivered by Intelligent Health and is one of 59 Beat the Street games that will be set up using a new £3.3 million National Lottery funding grant from Sport England.
Want to find out more about Beat the Street? Visit beatthestreet.me/barnsley for more information.
