Pin It

In eight weeks last spring, Walk Across Arkansas participants added a little exercise to their lives and managed to squeeze in 2.2 million minutes’ worth.Walkers across the state will have a chance to see if they can top that when the 2011 autumn edition of Walk Across Arkansas begins Sept. 26 and ends Nov. 20, the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

“This program really gets people excited about walking,” said LaVona Traywick, Ph.D., assistant professor-gerontology for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture. “It demonstrates how easy it is to start a healthy habit and stick to it.”

Traywick said last year’s fall and spring programs were enormously successful. “In the spring we had more than 170 different teams participate,” she said. “People from communities all across the state were walking, logging their minutes and promoting regular exercise.”

The Healthy Nuts team from Jefferson County put the most wear on their walking shoes during the spring WAA, logging a collective total of 55,692 minutes, the top total. If each member of the Healthy Nuts team walked 3 mph, the team could have walked from Little Rock to Mexico City with 600 miles to spare.

Minutes to Win It from Greene County scored second-place with a total 40,485 minutes of walking. Third place went to members of the Lone Starlets, of Cleburne County, who walked 40,113 minutes.

“We are excited about the start to a new season,” Traywick said. “Walk Across Arkansas seems to get larger with each new session. It’s encouraging to think this program is motivating so many Arkansans to walk.”

During the eight weeks, registered team members can go online and record their walking minutes every week. To log hours, click on the Walk Across Arkansas link at http://www.uaex.edu or at http://survey.uaex.edu/WAA/teamregistration.htm.

The Walk Across Arkansas program is coordinated by the Family Consumer Sciences Department at the U of A Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service.

Participants can follow the program at WalkAcrossArkansas.wordpress.com or on Twitter @WalkAcrossArk.

Send To A Friend

Share