Top Youth Event of 2008
The honor of “Youth Running Event of the Year” was earned by the Medtronic Twin Cities Kids Marathon. The producers of the Medtronic TC Marathon currently produce 3 different events – one for each running season – as well as online tools to encourage youth and family fitness over 4, 8 or 12-week increments. Youth events have been conducted on the weekend of the October marathon for a number of years but in the last two years producers have added an indoor track meet in February and a cross country race in May.
The year-long program includes free incentives to keep kids motivated to prepare for the next event. Each event has a full range of distances appropriate for kids of all ages and abilities - a half mile, mile, 2-mile (new this year) and 5K. Before this year’s February track meet , 1245 incentives were distributed to families and schools for the training program participants. In the spring of 2008, 161 new families and 44 new schools took part in training leading up to the 2nd annual May cross-country event where 896 kids ran either the half mile or mile loop. The fall 2008 training program included 1,229 kids who participated through school programs, where they tracked mileage online, received incentives for reaching milestones and learned tips about exercise and fitness. On October 4, more than two thousand youth participants finished the mile, half-mile, Toddler Trot and Diaper Dash, proving there are opportunities for every young person to start off living healthy lives. Countless more moved up to the 5K that day. All 3 events included scholarships for needy participants, finish medals, food, mascots and momentoes such as a hat and a t-shirt.
According to Honikman, “All successful youth running and fitness programs have a goal event to encourage participants to focus on preparation and progress. High profile kids runs such as the 3 offered by Twin Cities Marathon, Inc. and Medtronic also provide a vehicle for maximizing media and promotional efforts. Those efforts ensure that the positive message of low cost fitness solutions will spread from children and schools to entire families and communities. The expansion to 3 seasons helps the participants develop healthy lifestyle changes that last beyond the completion of one annual event.”