We love to see our residents finding new, fun and inclusive ways to get active in Essex, which is why we are so excited to see Street Tag taking off in our local areas. Street Tag, a project that was launched in Essex in conjunction with the Active Essex Local Delivery Pilot, has seen individuals of all ages and abilities, individually, in a team or as a family, get active to earn points and prizes.
Whether it’s walking, running or cycling, Essex residents have been on the move in Basildon, Colchester and Tendring, scanning in virtual codes found across the community to earn points, racing up the leaderboards and winning prizes.
In Basildon, we’ve seen 620 teams achieving 175,000 miles and 165 million steps collectively, since Street Tag launched earlier this year. That’s 2709 residents walking, 373 running and 436 cycling their way up the leaderboard.
In July alone, residents in Tendring scanned a total of 7912 tags across the borough. With 127 walkers, 18 runners and 23 cyclists wracking up an astonishing 4588 miles and 5,363,256 steps between them.
Three leaderboards have been created in Colchester to track the progress of the residents there. The Community board has 94 active teams taking part across the county, with one active member saying: “Street Tag has filled the gap I’ve been looking for. I now look forward to getting out on my daily walks with my wife, and I’ve noticed a significant improvement in my physical activity. Before starting Street Tag, I was walking around 2000 steps a day and since I’ve started Street Tag, this has increased to 8000 steps.”
The Schools leaderboard is made up of 24 school teams, with teachers, parents and children all taking part in Street Tag. Friar Grove Primary School won the first season, which started in March this year, with a whopping 22,651,625 points. A faculty member from the school said: “Street Tag launched just as the lockdown restrictions started to ease, and it was a fun, free activity for families to get involved with.” The health benefits haven’t gone unnoticed for this member. They said: “I lost a stone in two months just by getting more active by using the app. Parents have told me their cholesterol has lowered just by getting involved with Street Tag, along with a number of other health benefits. We are very pleased to have won!”
The Care Homes leaderboard launched in mid July with eleven teams taking part. An active Care Homes team member said: “We are the first borough to launch a leaderboard for our care homes, so the residents, their families and staff members can all work together to collect points, and encourage care homes to be more active. The top care home team will win a fantastic trophy, donated by the FANS network, as they compete to be the most active care Home across Colchester!”
Across the county, Colchester has 876 local users actively taking part, and have so far achieved 121,145.25 miles, taking 106,284,592 steps since the end of March.
Exciting, fun, and let’s face it – a little bit addictive, Street Tag has encouraged our residents to enjoy activity in their own way whilst supporting those around them. We are thrilled to see more and more people taking part in these challenges, winning their way to better mental and physical health. For more information about Street Tag and how you can get involved in your local area, check out their website.
