A FUN initiative which aims to get East Renfrewshire residents out and about has been a runaway success.

Beat the Street is a free challenge where people are rewarded with points and prizes for exploring their town on foot or bicycle.

More than 40 special sensors called ‘Beat Boxes’ have been put in place across Barrhead and Newton Mearns.

READ MORE: Game will see teams in Barrhead competing to Beat the Street​

Players tap the Beat Boxes with cards and fobs to track their journey and earn points for themselves and their team. The more Beat Boxes people swipe during a journey, the more points they earn.

And, within the first few days of the game being launched, residents had collectively travelled more than the distance to Australia.

More than 5,000 people walked and cycled 12,000 miles in just one week as part of the competition, which continues until March 29.

Organisers have now announced that, if Beat the Street players travel 40,000 miles by the end of the game, a £500 donation will be made to Paisley-based Accord Hospice, which delivers palliative and end-of-life care to people in Renfrewshire and parts of East Renfrewshire.

Currently, 17 schools and teams in the Barrhead and Newton Mearns areas are competing against each other to see who can journey the furthest and win hundreds of pounds worth of prizes.

After one week, Kirkhill Primary School, in Newton Mearns, was at the top of the leaderboard, with 4,900 miles travelled, while ERC Education’s players had the highest average points.

However, with almost a month left to go, it is still all to play for.

Beat the Street is being delivered by Intelligent Health on behalf of East Renfrewshire Council, with support from Paths for All’s Smarter Choices, Smarter Places programme.

Councillor Alan Lafferty, East Renfrewshire’s environment convener, said: “Beat the Street got off to a running start in Barrhead and Newton Mearns.

“We are delighted to see so many people walking, running and cycling for the competition. There is still time to get involved, so pick up a card from your leisure centre or library and start tapping.”