Popular physical activity game Beat the Street is coming to East Renfrewshire

Beat the Street is a free, interactive game that encourages people of all ages to ditch the car and see how far they can walk, cycle or run in a bid to win prizes for their community or school team.

It has previously been commissioned by East Renfrewshire Council from February to March 2019 across Barrhead and Newton Mearns where participants travelled a total of 62,071 miles during the competition.

Beeping and flashing sensors called Beat Boxes will be placed on lampposts around the area for the duration of the game. Pupils at participating primary schools will be provided with fobs while their parents and teachers will receive a card from the school so they can accompany the children.

These can then be registered to the school team to help them to score points.

The wider community can pick up a contactless card from a distribution point, a list of which are available on the website. Players then walk or cycle between the Beat Boxes which are spaced half a mile apart – tapping the fobs or cards as they go. The further players travel, the more points they score.

Local residents are also encouraged to enter workplaces, community groups and sports groups into the game, and teams can be entered via the Beat the Street website

Councillor Tony Buchanan, Leader of East Renfrewshire Council, said: “Beat the Street is a fun way to get active and we’re delighted to bring the game back to East Renfrewshire.

“The idea of the game is to encourage people to get more active and then to continue these new healthy lifestyle habits beyond the end of the game. The challenge has been set to outdo Newton Mearns and Barrhead’s impressive total from last year, so ditch the car and get out as a family to explore and beat the streets of East Renfrewshire.”

More information is available at www.beatthestreet.me/eastrenfrewshire and on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @btseastrenfrewshire