Beat the Street, Dorset’s giant walking and cycling initiative, is off to a great start with residents travelling more than twice the distance around the world in the first week of the game.

More than 15,000 people in Weymouth, Portland, Poole and Purbeck have walked and cycled almost 50,000 miles in less than seven days for Beat the Street – a free competition which challenges people to see how far they can travel around Dorset in return for points and prizes.

Beat the Street, which is running until Wednesday, November 14 is transforming Weymouth, Portland, Poole and Purbeck into a giant game with players tapping special sensors called Beat Boxes dotted across the towns.

Thousands of people have been visiting libraries, supermarkets and other distribution points to pick up a card and get involved.

More than 100 schools and teams in Dorset have been competing against each other to see who can journey the furthest and win hundreds of pounds worth of prizes. In less than one week, people in Weymouth and Portland travelled 24,000 miles, while those in Poole and Purbeck together managed 25,000 miles.

The games in Weymouth & Portland, as well as Poole & Purbeck, are delivered by Intelligent Health and are two of 59 Beat the Street games that will be set up across the South West and East Midlands using a new £3.3 million National Lottery funding grant from Sport England. The Dorset games have also received further funding and support from Public Health Dorset.

Cllr Rebecca Knox, Dorset County Council’s Leader and Chairman of Dorset Health and Wellbeing Board said: “I am delighted to see that the residents of Dorset have really embraced Beat the Street. This initiative is great for people to get out with their friends and family to compete with one another while getting active. I would encourage anyone who hasn’t yet signed up to Beat the Street to get a card from their local distribution centre and register to play.” Dr William Bird, CEO and Founder of Intelligent Health, said: “The response to Beat the Street has been incredible – our biggest start to a Beat the Street game so far.

Dozens of towns and cities have taken part in the games so far in and Dorset is proving to be one of the most active areas where Beat the Street has taken place.”