In the next two days we will find out whether we have beaten Beat the Street or whether Beat the Street has beaten us.

As previously reported, a few weeks ago I press-ganged my wife into joining me on a challenge to visit all 175 targets (called ‘beat boxes’) in this brilliant initiative to get Swindon running, walking and cycling, our choice being to do it all on bikes.

At the time of going to press, we have ticked off 121 of the beat boxes, which are splattered all over the Borough, putting us on course to complete the challenge by Wednesday’s deadline, but only just.

Thanks to a snazzy little GPS computer that fits on my handlebars and records my every move, I know exactly how far we’ve travelled in our quest, and by the time we are done, we each will have clocked up around 400km, which is about 250 miles in old money.

They are all kilometers/miles that we wouldn’t have done without the incentive of Beat the Street. We don’t tick them off if we just happen to be in the vicinity, but rather make special journeys each time.

It gives you some idea of just how much exercise it is possible to get in, just around the streets of Swindon, plus a few extra jaunts to Chiseldon, Highworth, South Marston, Wanborough and Wroughton.

Beat the Street has also taught us - just in case we hadn’t noticed - how vast Swindon has become.

I am often seen cycling around town (even when Beat the Street isn’t on), so I thought I knew Swindon well, and, thanks to my bike, I probably know it better than most.

But it has taken us to parts that we were previously unfamiliar with.

And because many of the beat boxes are deliberately positioned close to schools, we have found ourselves outside some that we didn’t even know existed.

To keep on schedule with our challenge, and because the nights are drawing in, we’ve even done some of our hunting in the dark, which seemed a reasonable idea until we got lost in Freshbrook, couldn’t find the beat box, and there was a short delay while my wife ascertained that it was definitely my fault.

Otherwise it has been great fun, especially when the beat boxes have been put in a less obvious place, so you have to search for them.

Perhaps the best bit about the whole thing was constantly bumping into other people who were on the same mission, because there is extra enjoyment in feeling you are part of something bigger than just your own challenge.

I stated before that we should take our hats off to the organisers, including Swindon Borough Council. At some stage somebody at the Civic Offices or Wat Tyler House must have had great foresight to sign us up to the national initiative, and there is no doubt it has been a huge success.

However, everybody I’ve talked to about Beat the Street has said what a shame it is that it has to end.

So the challenge, now - now that thousands of Swindonians have completed (or at least attempted) Beat the Street challenges of their own - is surely for the town to come up with a permanent scheme that involves another network of ‘targets’ for children of all ages to try to visit. A heritage trail, perhaps?

We surely have the technology, so it now waits to be seen whether the will and the investment - either from the local authority or perhaps local businesses, or both - exists to come up with the blockbuster that would be Beat the Street Part II.