Track & Field athlete Rhonda Watkins helped out at this year's event. |
UCLA Athletics Hosts Marathon Kids Kick Off Celebration
Oct. 14, 2008
LOS ANGELES - UCLA Athletics hosted the Marathon Kids Kick Off Celebration on Saturday, Oct. 11, as approximately 6,000 kindergarten through fifth graders, their families, teachers and volunteers were in attendance at Drake Stadium to officially begin the goal of running or walking 26.2 miles over the next five months.
During the five-month period, children accompanied by their parents will run or walk quarter to half-mile segments towards their goal of the marathon distance of 26.2 miles. In addition to the running, Marathon Kids are encouraged to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables a day for 26.2 days each month as part of the nutrition program. The program concludes with the Final Mile Medal Celebration at Drake Stadium on Saturday, March 14, 2009. Approximately 15,000 Los Angeles-area children are registered for this year's event.
More than 180 Bruin student-athletes volunteered to help out at this year's event. Many of the student-athletes lined the track to cheer on the participants as they ran their first lap. Participants were rewarded with water bottles from Whole Foods, stickers, UCLA posters and autographs from Bruin student-athletes.
In its third year in Los Angeles, Marathon Kids is a free program open to all groups of children who are in the kindergarten to fifth-grade school range in Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Redondo Beach and Long Beach school districts, as well as private schools and home-schooled children. The program targets kids who are most vulnerable to childhood obesity and Type 2 diabetes, African-American and Hispanic children.
Marathon Kids is a 12-year-old non-profit organization, with over 123,000 children taking part in the program nationwide. Birthed as a grassroots initiative, it now holds events in seven (7) markets: Los Angeles, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Austin, Houston and Texas Rio Grande Valley.
