The third incarnation of the Beat the Street Burnley game has launched with 7126 participants signing up on its first day and together walking, cycling, and rolling their way to more than 5,000 miles.
The free, interactive game encourages people to walk, cycle and wheel for prizes; it started this morning and takes place for six weeks until 7pm on Wednesday, 25th June.
As with previous games, approximately, 100 beeping and flashing sensors called ‘Beat Boxes’ have been placed on lampposts around the town to help participants explore the local area and all it has to offer and to develop the habit of regular exercise. To play, players join a school, community, or a workplace team and collect a card from one of the distribution centres listed at www.beatthestreet.me/burnley or alternatively, players over the age of 13 can download the free Beat the Street app to play the game on their phone. As well as vouchers for the top teams, there are prizes for the top-scoring individuals and spot prizes just for taking part – and to support the town’s environmental ambitions, teams will earn a tree which they will be invited to plant later in the year for every 2,000 points they score in the game!
Beat the Street Burnley has been brought to you through a local partnership including Burnley Borough Council, Lancashire County Council, Burnley Leisure and Culture, Canal & River Trust and other partners. It is supported via the National Lottery Community Fund and Sport England. It is being delivered by Intelligent Health.
Alexis Turner, the local co-ordinator for Beat the Street Burnley, said: “What a brilliant first day! The Beat the Street game has taken place in more than 120 locations across the UK and Burnley is one of a small number of towns to have hosted the game three times! As seasoned players, we hope to clock up even more than our active travel mileage of 155,121 miles that we achieved last time which we should be able to do if we continue at this pace. Let’s get more people signed up and enjoying the benefits of the competition!”
More information is available at www.beatthestreet.me/burnley and on social media at @BTSBurnley