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Dragon's Den day for Go London competition

NHS London today announced a shortlist of ideas designed to get the capital more active in the run-up to 2012. The contenders have been shortlisted from the entries to the Go London Social Innovation Competition.

They will now go forward for a Dragon's Den style day at City Hall on 14 May when they will have a top team of experts on hand to test out their plans to assess which one has the winning edge. NHS London has been running the competition to encourage the capital to get moving in the run up to the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012. The final line up of five ideas provide solutions to help Londoners get involved in the Olympic spirit.

Hilary Ross, Director of 2012 Programme at NHS London said:

“We have had a great response to the competition with Londoners joining in and embracing the Go London 2012 spirit. All the ideas on the shortlist have succeeded in tackling the key areas we have identified that might stop people getting involved and being active. I am looking forward to the final Dragon's Den Day when we can see the potential of these new projects.”

The final shortlist line-up is:

The Go Game

Mei Li is the director of The Go Game and developed the idea with colleague Chris Olson who both live in the Tower Hamlets area. The Go Game looks at how Londoners can explore the City, have fun and get active at the same time. Inspired by treasure hunts, the Go Game uses a range of media to set 'missions' and get people out and about.

Splashpath

Daniel Morgan, from Angel, Islington, runs a software development company specialising in sports and fitness applications .He has made music videos and is a keen swimmer and water polo player. Splashpath aims to capture all the information about swimming in one place and looks at innovative and creative new ways that can promote people to get in the pool more often.

Pop up fitness

Ingrid Bergson, a Clinical Psychologist, works in Hackney helping patients with chronic pain. She has developed pop up fitness, a motivational tool to help people to keep their commitment to getting active. The pop up will be a timed reminder that pops up on your work screen reminding you to take a break and get active.

Amazing Mazes

Andrew Stick from East Dulwich has developed Amazing London which looks at the ways to can make London more intriguing, making it more likely for everyone to get out and about. The idea is to create mazes across the capital that Londoners can help build and explore- and hopefully help us to get that little bit more active as a result.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

1. For more information contact Theresa Hart in the NHS London communications team on 0207 932 3911. Out of office hours, please call 0844 822 2888 and ask for pager number LON01.
2. Go London, the strategy to deliver increased physical activity in London up to and beyond the 2012 Games is working with the local NHS across the capital to promote local opportunities for becoming more active. NHS London's Go London project is a shared movement to create, through a series of partnerships and collaborations, a city where physical activity is a normal part of the lives of Londoners. Go London also contributes to making London a more liveable and sustainable world city, resulting in improved health and wellbeing of its citizens. For a full copy of ‘An active and healthy London for 2012 and beyond' visit www.london.nhs.uk/publications.
3. Before commencing any new fitness regime, contact your GP for a check up. The Chief Medical Officer recommends 30 minutes of moderate physical activity five days a week for adults (5x30mins). Moderate physical activity is defined as activity which causes an individual to feel slightly warm, breathe slight heavier and increases the heart rate. Physical inactivity costs the NHS in London £105 million a year.