Marathon Kids Run All 50 States
August 01 2017 - 1:00PM
Business Wire
Marathon Kids and Nike Celebrate a National
Milestone, with More Than 350,000 Active Kids
Join the movement with Marathon Kids at
Home
Marathon Kids and Nike are proud to announce that as of this
summer, kids in 50 states across the U.S. are now running with
Marathon Kids. The goal-driven running program challenges kids to
run the equivalent of up to four marathons (104.8 miles) over the
course of a running club season or school year.
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Marathon Kids and Nike Celebrate a
National Milestone with More than 350,000 Active Kids (Photo:
Business Wire)
Marathon Kids began over 22 years ago in Austin, Tex., and
expanded to Calif. and Md. in its first two decades. In 2015,
Marathon Kids and Nike joined forces, and the partnership has grown
the program from three states to all 50 states, with more than
350,000 kids running in the program with their local
community-based organizations, schools or at home with their
families.
With the goal of inspiring half a million kids in the U.S. to
start running with the program by 2020, Marathon Kids expanded its
reach with Marathon Kids at Home in 2016. The four-marathon
challenge is the same as the traditional program, with Marathon
Kids at Home enabling families to run together, using the Marathon
Kids motivational mobile app to track the progress of their running
season and celebrate accomplishing milestones along the way.
“Our goal is to get kids running for life—for their health and
happiness now, and for a lifetime,” said Ray Blue, Chief
Development Officer. “The partnership with Nike has really taken
our program to the next level, and we’re so humbled and excited by
the potential to encourage even more kids to get active this summer
with the Marathon Kids at Home program.”
To celebrate the journey of getting kids moving in 50 states,
Marathon Kids and Nike have also released a special short film,
“Run With Me”, with Marathon Kids participants from across the
country motivating other kids to get active—one mile at a time. The
two-minute film shows how running can be fun, inclusive and
empowering for all kids.
“Today’s kids are part of the least active generation ever, and
it’s up to all of us to get them moving,” said Caitlin Morris,
General Manager of Nike Global Community Impact. “Nike believes in
the power of sport to move the world, starting with kids, and
there’s no better place to start than with running, the starting
line for play and movement, to help them fall in love with sport
and physical activity for a lifetime. Together with the Marathon
Kids team, we’re excited to inspire kids across the country to
participate in the program—running at school, in their
neighborhoods and with their families—to help inspire positive
habits that will benefit them in all areas of their life.”
The Marathon Kids program design is informed by the research of
leading physical activity experts at the University of Texas School
of Public Health. Through an evidence-based approach, Marathon Kids
has determined that an average child can safely and effectively
meet the goal of running 104.8 miles, incrementally, over the
course of a 3- 6- or 9-month running club season (or school year).
A key part of the program is to provide positive reinforcement,
which Marathon Kids does by rewarding kids with exclusive Nike
program rewards when they reach program milestones of 26.2, 52.4,
78.6 and 104.8.
By the end of the 2016-2017 running season, 80 percent of
surveyed running clubs showed remarkable progress—with 89 percent
of runners finishing one marathon, 72 percent finishing two
marathons, 57 percent finishing three marathons and 41 percent
completing all four marathons.
The Marathon Kids at Home program makes it easy for families to
get moving together— sign ups are available on the Marathon Kids
website. The cost of the Marathon Kids program is $15 per person
plus $5 for shipping and provides all the tools, incentives and
motivation to start a family running club, including a family
guide, mileage logs, rewards, access to additional online
resources, trainings and events. Family running clubs can also use
the Marathon Kids app (integrated with NIKE+) to track their
miles.
Here are a few inspiring examples of kids running with Marathon
Kids across the country:
- One of Marathon Kids’ most active
families, the Gonzalez family, began participating in the program
in the fall of 2015 in Los Angeles, Calif. Omar Gonzalez learned
about Marathon Kids through running with Nike and the program
quickly became part of his family’s routine. Together, they’ve run
in the last two Marathon Kids Miler celebratory events in LA and
continue on their fitness journey with the Marathon Kids at Home
program. Recently, Good Housekeeping shared their running story,
which inspired mom and daughter team Jessica and Amelia, from
Casper, Wyo., to become Marathon Kids' newest family run club.
After reading the article, Jessica knew the program would be a
great fit for her and Amelia (8) who are Wyoming’s first Marathon
Kids runners as the 50th state to join the program. "I want my
daughter to grow up knowing that being active is not a chore, but
something she enjoys,” shares Jessica. “She's already an active
child but Marathon Kids has given us the opportunity to carve out
time for the two of us to spend together working on our running
goals."
- At Oakhaven Elementary in Memphis,
Tenn., 95 percent of kids are economically disadvantaged, but
thanks to special funding they were able to bring in Marathon Kids
as their first-ever extracurricular physical activity program.
During the school year their coach, Jeremiah Bland, uses the
program to teach hard work both on the track and in the classroom.
Most of his participants made the Honor Role and Principal's List
while logging the fastest 5K times in the county.
- Marathon Kids began in 1995 with just
2,000 kids from the 80,000+ Austin Independent School District. The
program's popularity quickly grew statewide with hundreds of clubs
in Dallas, Houston, Lubbock, the Rio Grande Valley and waiting
lists forming in other cities. This year more than 100,000 Tex.
children ran, maintaining its status as the state with the highest
Marathon Kids participation numbers.
Learn more about the Marathon Kids program and how to join us
this summer by participating in Marathon Kids at Home here.
About Marathon Kids:
Marathon Kids engages kids in a positive, goal-driven running
program that challenges kids to incrementally run four marathons
(from 26.2 miles to 104.8 miles) over the course of a running club
season—be that a school year or a summer. The program is completely
customizable -- you can run wherever you are -- in schools,
community organizations, neighborhoods and at homes across the U.S.
Marathon Kids running clubs are led by dedicated role models –
teachers, volunteers, parents. https://marathonkids.org/
About Nike Community Impact
Nike believes in the power of sport to unleash human
potential and build community. We’re committed to getting kids
moving through sport and play so that they can lead healthier,
happier and more successful lives, as well as to building more
equal playing fields for all athletes*. Through our Made to Play
programs, we’re partnering to impact the lives of more than 14
million kids around the world.
http://about.nike.com/pages/community-impact
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170801006365/en/
Nike Media RelationsPete Lewis, 503-532-7147orMarathon
KidsAmanda Motsinger, 352-502-6823amanda@marathonkids.org
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