In pictures: Beat the Street health initiative launches in Falkirk West

Beat the Street was launched in Falkirk West yesterday and over the next four weeks is open to anyone of any age living in Denny, Bonnybridge and Camelon.

Beat Boxes, with sensors, are located on lampposts throughout the participating communities. Players find their nearest Beat Box and hover there card over the contactless sensors then when it beeps and flashes that’s your pointed recorded.

There are ten participating primary schools who have all been provided with cards and maps.

Everyone else can pick up a free card from one of the distribution points listed on the website. Alternatively, those over the age of 13 can download the free Beat the Street app to play the game with their phone.

Players can join a school, community or workplace team and there are prizes for the teams that travel the furthest. Gift cards, vouchers for books and sports equipment are on offer.

For schools and community teams, there is a total points leaderboard and an average leaderboard, so opportunities for teams of all sizes to win prizes.

It runs in the Falkirk West area until March 20 – so don’t delay, join now.

Beat the Street, Falkirk West, has been commissioned by Falkirk Council and is funded by Paths for All’s Smarter Choices, Smarter Places programme. It is being delivered by Intelligent Health.

The game has been played by more than 1.8 million people in 168 locations in the UK, including a recent game across Falkirk North where eight schools took part; a total of 3,853 players clocked up an active travel mileage of 41,533 miles.

Councillor Paul Garner, spokesperson for economic development, who was at this week’s launch, encouraged people to get involved, saying: “The Beat the Street game is a fabulous way of kick- starting 2024 by encouraging local residents to replace those shorter car journeys with active travel – walking, cycling, running and scooting. The interactive game was in Falkirk North last year with fantastic results and is an effective way of getting everyone to implement healthy lifestyle changes.”

More information will be available at www.beatthestreet.me/FalkirkWest and on social media at @BTSFalkirkWest