Residents in Wolverhampton are being asked to vote to decide which local charity could win up to £1,000 as part of the free, fun Beat the Street game which begins next week.

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The hugely popular walking and cycling challenge is returning for a second year after more than 27,000 people took part in 2016, racing across Wolverhampton to complete miles, collect points and win prizes.

Once again, community groups, businesses and schools will be competing against each other to win a share of £4,000 worth of prizes and, for the first time, players will also be able to support a local charity too.

Intelligent Health - which is delivering Beat the Street on behalf of Sport England and the City of Wolverhampton Council - will be donating up to £1,000 to charity if players walk, run and cycle more than 196,000 miles during the 7 week challenge, and in doing so beat last year's total.

People are being asked to vote now for the charity which they think should benefit from the Beat the Street windfall. Wolverhampton residents are being given the chance to choose what charity the city will be playing for. Players can vote for 1 of 3 charities:

  • Compton Hospice, which has been supporting patients facing a life limiting illness, and their families, for 35 years
  • Good Shepherd Ministry, which helps the homeless and others in need in Wolverhampton by providing food, clothing, bedding, toiletries and other practical assistance
  • The Mayoral Charities, including Help for Heroes, Samaritans Wolverhampton and the MS Therapy Centre in Tettenhall.

Anyone living or working in Wolverhampton is welcome to vote and decide which charity the City fundraises for. Please vote for your favourite at Type=links;Linkid=8181;Title=Survey Monkey - Beat the Street;Target=_blank; by midnight on Sunday 12 March, 2017.

Kicking off on Wednesday 15 March, 2017, Beat the Street will transform Wolverhampton into a giant walking, running and cycling game with people scoring points by tapping special sensors called Beat Boxes which will be located on lampposts around Wolverhampton.

Tapping one of the 191 Beat Boxes at the start of the journey, and others en route or at the end, will calculate the distance that the player has travelled. This is recorded against the card and added to the player's individual total, their team total and the city's overall score.

Players will be able to monitor their progress by logging on to the Beat the Street website - Type=links;Linkid=6912;Title=Beat the Street 2017;Target=_blank; - with top scorers in the running for a share of £4,000 worth of great prizes, including vouchers and goody bags. Schools and teams will also compete against one another to see who can travel the furthest and win up to £750 of sports and fitness equipment supplied by Decathlon.

Councillor Paul Sweet, the City of Wolverhampton Council's Cabinet Member for Public Health and Wellbeing, said: "We're just days away from the start of this year's competition. Last year more than 27,000 people young and old took part, and we're looking forward to even more people playing along in 2017, so pick up your game card and prepare to get tapping."

People can collect their all important Beat the Street game card from their local library or WV Active Leisure Centre now, and register it online at Type=links;Linkid=6912;Title=Beat the Street 2017;Target=_blank;.

Any players who have their card from last year's game can reregister it online to play along this year.

For more information about Beat the Street, please visit Type=links;Linkid=6912;Title=Beat the Street 2017;Target=_blank;, follow @BTSWolves on Twitter or search 'Beat the Street Wolves' on Facebook.

  • released: Tuesday 7 March, 2017