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Fitness News - Thursday 2 July 2009
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Thursday, 2 July 2009
As many as 6,000 elite and recreational runners, wheelchair racers, walkers, families and corporate team members are expected at the 17th running of the CIGNA/Elliot Corporate 5K Road Race. The event will take place in downtown Manchester, N. H. on Thursday, August 13 at 6:20 p.m.
The CIGNA/Elliot 5K has something for everyone. It’s a fast USATF course for elite athletes who come from all over the world. But, more importantly, it’s a fun event for individuals, corporate teams and families. Since its inception, the CIGNA/Elliot Corporate 5K has consistently ranked in the top 20 largest 5K road races in the country according to Running USA. In some years the race has ranked among the 100 largest timed road races of any length in the country.
Over the past 16 years, several hundred thousand dollars have been contributed to New Hampshire charities in the name of the participants. When teams and individuals register for this year’s race, they may choose the option of supporting Elliot Hospital and the thousands of people served through their charitable care program.
“This year, the race is providing the added opportunity for participants to help those less fortunate,” said Don Curry, president of CIGNA HealthCare of New England. “It gives us the ability to not only celebrate health and fitness, but be grateful for what we have and help those who may be struggling.”
In addition to benefiting services provided by Elliot Hospital, the race serves as a way to inspire people to achieve their fitness goals. This year, CIGNA and Elliot Health System would like to hear how participants achieved their fitness goals. Stories might include tips on achieving fitness goals to enhance personal or professional goals, hurdles that have been overcome to adopt a healthier lifestyle, or ways that corporate teams come together to participate together in the event. Stories may be emailed to lindsay.shearer@cigna.com.
"Maintaining your personal health and fitness goals is not always easy. We encourage people to use the road race to develop a training program to help on the road to better health," said Doug Dean, president and CEO of Elliot Health System. "While The Elliot is always here for you, providing care to everyone in need no matter their ability to pay, we prefer to encourage a healthy lifestyle so you never need our services. The road race is a great opportunity to help everyone get started."
Corporate teams of five or more employees have until July 20 to finalize their team registration. Corporate cups are awarded for the teams with the most participation and highest percentage of official finishers in three categories: small, medium and large teams. In addition, there are awards for fastest female, male, and co-ed corporate teams.
Individual pre-registration ends on August 7. Individuals may also register on race day from noon until 6:00 p.m. in Veterans Park. Everyone receives a branded race T-shirt and those who complete the course receive a commemorative finishers’ award. Cash prizes are awarded in various categories.
New this year is the ChronoTrack D-Tag timing system, the latest technology in race timing. The tag comes assembled as part of each participant’s official bib number and attaches to a shoe. The D-Tag is disposable and can be discarded after the race.
Jamie Staton, sports director at WMUR-TV is the race announcer at the starting line and master of ceremonies for the awards presentation immediately following the race. Sponsors who help make the race possible include WMUR-TV, 96.5 The MILL, Jillan’s, Shaw’s, Coca-Cola, Rockingham Ambulance, Stonyfield Farms, and Waste Management. “Special thanks to The Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce for their assistance,” added Curry.
Participants may register by clicking on the race logo at www.elliothospital.org. The Web site includes details about the race, including photos from previous years. Additional information may be obtained by calling the road race hotline at 800.554.1664.
For more details on this news, please visit www.businesswire.com.
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
The Humana Foundation, philanthropic arm of health-benefits company Humana Inc., announced today that 100 students in U.S. Representative Jason Altmire’s congressional district (PA-4) walked a combined 14.8 million steps to win first place in The American Horsepower Challenge. Those steps, equal to approximately 5,600 miles, mean the students burned more than 250,000 calories during the four-week
challenge.
The American Horsepower Challenge is a unique exercise/video-game program intended to increase kids’ activity to improve their health. Nearly 1,600 students in 20 Congressional districts or states participated in the challenge, which ended earlier this month. Twenty members of Congress served as honorary participants. U.S. Representative Geoff Davis (KY-04) walked the most of the participating members of Congress – more than 162,000 steps.
“I am incredibly proud that the students in my district won this national competition,” said U.S. Congressman Jason Altmire (PA-04). “These kids excelled in making exercise a part of their daily routine. When you add it all up, they walked the roundtrip distance from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C. nearly fifteen times – a truly remarkable result. I hope that this competition was only the first step these children will take towards living a long and healthy life.”
The 1,585 students and 20 Congress members who participated in the challenge walked a combined 132 million steps – or just more than 50,000 miles – that’s two trips around the Earth! Collectively, the participants burned 2.25 million calories or about 10,000 chocolate bars. If all those miles walked had been driven in a car, the carbon emissions would be equal to 22.1 metric tons.
“With a focus on children’s health and wellness, The Humana Foundation seeks opportunities to encourage young people to be more active,” said Virginia Kelly Judd, executive director of The Humana Foundation. “We’re delighted with the results of The American Horsepower Challenge program and congratulate all the outstanding participants for walking more than 132 million steps in four weeks.”
The five participating schools in Rep. Altmire’s district will each receive a $5,000 grant from The Humana Foundation for winning the challenge. Students at the five schools increased their activity an average of 48 percent during the challenge. The schools are:
* Midland Elementary/Middle School (Midland, PA)
* Hopewell Memorial Junior High School (Aliquippa, PA)
* Beaver Falls Middle School (Beaver Falls, PA)
* Deer Lakes Middle School (Russellton, PA)
* Franklin Regional Middle School (Murrysville, PA)
Here is the official order of finish in the challenge:
Win – Students in Rep. Jason Altmire (PA-4) district – 141,731 average steps per student
Place – Students in Sen. Mel Martinez (FL) district – 130,126 average steps per student
Show – Students in Rep. John Shadegg (AZ-3) district – 105,852 average steps per student
The American Horsepower Challenge is part of a trend known as “active gaming” that incorporates real-world movement into video games. For example, this program translated actual physical activity (steps walked) into an online race. Each student wore smart pedometers, called Actipeds, on their shoes to monitor their daily activity for four weeks. The steps were wirelessly uploaded to www.horsepowergame.com during the challenge. The Games for Health unit of Humana’s Innovation Center created the game and challenge.
For more details on this news, please visit www.businesswire.com.
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