Marathon Challenge Program

MARATHON CHALLENGE PROGRAM

Developed by Steve Boone

Description:

Each elementary student who completes 26.2 miles or more during the school year will receive a shirt to commemorate the task. They will also have their picture taken for the yearbook as an official member of the Marathon Club. Since 1993, many thousands of students in kindergarten through fifth grade have completed the marathon distance. Some of the students run, jog, and walk as many as one hundred miles. Over the years, teachers, principals, and office personnel have joined in the program.

Goals:

1.  Demonstrate that long term goals are attainable.

2.  Instill self-confidence by virtue of the student completing 26.2 miles on their own.

3.  Encouragement of the students to complete the task because they will not receive a shirt unless they complete the distance of 26.2 miles.

4.  Show the students that all finishers are winners; there is no first or last place.

5.  Teach children that a MARATHON is 26.2 miles long.

Requirements:

1.  A track or path must be measured to know how many laps are required to complete the 26.2 miles. The SWE track is 1/5 of a mile around.

2.  Students must know how many laps are required to complete the 26.2 miles. The exact number is on their card.

3.  Record keeping is maintained by the P.E. teacher; this is the official record and cannot be disputed.

4.  As the student completes a lap, a teacher will mark off a shoe on their card. At the completion of the run, each student has the number of laps recorded in the official log. This method allows the student to stay on the track longer because they only stop for a second to get their dot and then may continue. Students may walk, jog, or run.

5.  Only completed laps count.

6.  No cheating is allowed. They would only be cheating themselves.

7.  Students who participate in 5K Fun Runs may turn in their participant bib number and receive lap credit.

Notes:

1.  Marathon Club will start September 16th for grades K, 1, and 2.

3rd, 4th, and 5th grades will start on September 23rd.

Students will meet at the track before school from 7:30-7:55 a.m.

2.  Students will be rewarded at the 5, 10, 15, 20, and 26.2 miles with a Fitness Finder charm key chain.

3.  Students completing a marathon before the deadline (the Friday before Spring Break) will receive a free Marathon Challenge t-shirt.

4.  The shirt design has been different each of the eighteen years and is not made public until the shirts are delivered.

5.  In 1993, fourteen students received a shirt. Last year, over 7,500 students and faculty received one.