The municipalities of Marousi, Iraklion and Kallithea, have completed a 6 week Beat the Street programme, from 26 October – 6 December.
Residents played the game to reduce pollution; free up streets from traffic and get active.
Beat The Street was brought to Greece for the first time by Harokopio University of Athens and funded by The Coca-Cola Foundation. Twenty-two thousand two hundred and thirty three Athenians travelled over 129,000 miles in 6 weeks.
George Patoulis, Mayor of Marousi said: “The participation of our municipality in the Beat the Street program aims to motivate our fellow citizens to embrace physical activity in their everyday life, choosing walking or cycling for their transportation. It is our warm intention to participate in activations that promote alternative ways of transportation within the city, for both the environment and our health. The cycling routes created in Marousi and currently being expanded, as well as the common cycling system and the educational environmental activities we undertake in order to raise awareness, fall within this scope.”
Nikos Mpampalos, Mayor of Iraklion also said: “Our personal health is primarily up to us, especially in times when prevention is the best cure. What could be better, then, than to exercise in our neighborhood, within our city’s areas. The program Beat the Street is offering to all of us the opportunity to fill the streets of Heraklion with stories of beat, positive energy and life. ”
The Mayor of Kallithea, Dimitris Karnavos stated: “Walking is health, life, joy, another way of life. The system we are inaugurating helps enormously all of those who enjoy walking. From now on everyone can have a clear view of the kilometers covered by counting them and form a proper exercise program. Additionally, the card provides incentives to our walkers. I would like to thank Harokopio University and The Coca-Cola Foundation for selecting in Kallithea to be one of the three municipalities implementing this program.”
Nectaria Metrakou, Senior Public Affairs & Communications Manager Greece, Cyprus & Malta Coca-Cola Hellas, stated: “Our physical condition and activity are vital factors in maintaining our good health. In Coca-Cola, we firmly believe that our quality of life is improved when we embrace an active lifestyle on a daily basis. Our goal is to help raise the standards for physical activity in the local communities where we operate. Working closely with governmental authorities, nongovernmental organizations as well as scientific and academic communities, we support initiatives and programs providing feasible solutions to a more active healthy living. Beat the Street is a program of this kind, which we actively support because we believe it can motivate the citizens of our city to adopt through an easy way small habits on a daily basis that will result in major and fundamental changes.”
Ioannis Manios, Associate Professor at Harokopion University and Scientific Coordinator of the program said: “Benefits deriving from programs, promoting physical activity such as Beat the Street are not limited in the obvious health benefits. Such a change in our everyday life can bring closer members of a family, groups of friends of all ages, neighbors or fellow students and become a fun and entertaining activity for those who participate. At the same time, using vehicles less can contribute to reduce pollutants, noise and traffic in the city. We hope that Beat the Street program will be the beginning of small but vital changes in the neighborhoods and daily transportation within the municipalities; changes that will remain even after the conclusion of the program. Last but not least, I would like to point out that the financial contribution of private entities which support that kind of activations, as in this case The Coca-Cola Foundation funding the Beat the Street program, is of great importance to us, especially in the current financial circumstances of our country.”
