A PROJECT urging residents to walk and cycle has been hailed a success.

In the seven weeks the Beat the Street project ran, residents walked or cycled more than 20,000 times the height of Mount Everest.

Colchester was transformed into a giant walking, running and cycling game with schools, community groups and sports clubs competing to see who could travel the furthest and win hundreds of pounds worth of prizes.

Residents were challenged to travel 75,000 miles by the end of the game to help raise £600 for Colchester’s Youth Enquiry Service.

Almost 14,000 people participated in the game and exceeded expectations by walking and cycling 99,000 miles.

Schools and community groups also competed to see who could end up on top of the Total Points and Average Points leaderboards and win up to £400 worth of vouchers.

The top school was St John’s Green Primary whose staff, parents and pupils walked 8,711 miles together.

The top community team which won on average points scored was the Team2Gether running group whose 22 members ran 2,050 miles.

This initiative is being delivered in Colchester by Intelligent Health on behalf of Colchester Council and Livewell Colchester.

Tina Bourne, councillor responsible for communities, said: “Congratulations to each and every person who has taken part in Beat the Street.

“The competition has been very much the talk of the town for the past few weeks and we’ve heard from many people who say they will miss the Beat Boxes.

"We have seen incredible stories of people discovering parts of Colchester they had never known about, spent more time with friends and family and started making important changes to their health.”