Beat the Street
Thousands took part across the Black Country and Birmingham.
A major community fitness initiative, Beat the Street, transformed local streets, towpaths and green spaces across the Black Country and Birmingham in 2022, encouraging thousands of people to get active and explore their neighbourhoods.
The game-style challenge invited participants to use special Beat the Street cards and maps to travel by foot, bike, scooter or rollerblades to one of more than 250 “Beat Boxes” placed on lampposts around the area. Each Beat Box recorded journeys when a card was hovered over the sensor, with points awarded for moving between boxes within an hour.
The initiative was open to everyone, regardless of age, and aimed to inspire healthier lifestyles by promoting walking and cycling instead of short car journeys. Organisers said the programme not only boosted physical activity levels among both adults and children, but also helped reduce congestion, improve air quality, and encouraged families to spend more time outdoors together.
The project proved to be a huge success in the West Midlands. In July and August 2022, more than 25,500 people in Dudley took part, collectively travelling over 100,000 miles. A few months later, in September and October, Birmingham hosted its own version of the game, which saw over 3,500 participants covering more than 5,500 miles.
Ian Lane, lead for Commonwealth Games Legacy, reflected on the project’s impact:
“We were really pleased to have worked in partnership to bring this activity to our waterways.
"Beat the Street was a wonderful opportunity for us, especially in a region where most people lived within one mile of their local canal but had not yet realised it was there and its potential.
"We knew that life was better by water, and by taking part people had a great opportunity to explore, get active and experience how being by water could make a real difference to their mental health.”
With thousands of miles travelled and residents rediscovering the benefits of their local canals, Beat the Street left a lasting legacy of healthier habits and stronger community connections.
