Joy for EK Beat the Street winners despite lockdown
GREGOR FARQUHARSON
As East Kilbride, and the whole world, moves inside, the team behind Beat The Street celebrated the success of their outdoor competition by crowning the winners early.
The finished up early due to the lockdown restrictions amid coronavirus, but the winners have now been announced.
In total, the people of East Kilbride racked up an amazing 124,665 miles between them, with over 12,000 players taking part in the inaugural event.
There were six categories where teams could claim victory – and organisers say it was a very close run event.
Winning both the schools’ total points and average points categories was St Hilary’s Primary School, with Hunter Primary coming in second for both of the categories.
Maureen Reid, headteacher at St Hilary’s, said: “We are absolutely delighted that we have won Beat the Street for Primary School, in both the category for total number of points collected and average points.
“This is a clear demonstration of the commitment and collective efforts of the St Hilary’s family.
“Beat the Street has been a wonderful initiative which has encouraged a real sense of community across East Kilbride, as well promoting the physical and mental health benefits of physical activity.
“As always, our school community has been outstanding in supporting this.
“Many thanks to all our pupils and parents (past and present) and to the wider friends and family of St Hilary’s who opted to play for us.
“You are all winners and have helped us to achieve this success. We may be a small school but this is a clear demonstration of our big ambition.”
The overall winners of the high school categories were the first years at St Andrew’s and St Bride’s, with the second year group coming a close second.
And winning both of the community group events were the Murray 12 Walkers, with the Westwood Rovers coming in second place.
David Owens from the Murray 12 Walkers was the top scorer in the competition, clocking up the highest individual distance travelled.
He said: “This wasn’t a one-man thing, this is about a group of people who pushed themselves to the limit.
“We’re not talking athletes, we’re talking about your everyday, run-of-the-mill person, just somebody who pushed that little further.
“We all can do it, and once we get through this thing that we are going through right now we will see our friends again and meet new friends.”
Beat the Street organisers will also be making a £500 donation to Kilbryde Hospice as players collectively travelled more than 100,000 miles.
Unfortunately, the planned celebratory event will now not take place and winning teams will receive their prizes by post and email.
However, players are invited to keep hold of their cards and fobs for now as they will be useful for future events and activities.