Kids Running Across the United States

PALM DESERT, Calif. - Sept. 25, 2014 - PRLog -- The Race Across the USA is a 3,080-mile transcontinental footrace during 2015, running coast to coast from California to Washington DC. The motivating cause for this event is the childhood obesity epidemic in the United States. According to the CDC, childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years. At the present time, 12.5 million children, ages 6-19 in the United States, are obese. Many more are overweight. Children and adolescents who are obese are likely to be obese as adults and are therefore more at risk for adult health problems such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, several types of cancer and osteoarthritis.

Run-Walk Events and Inverclyde Globetrotters are teaming up to encourage children to stay active. Duncan Galbraith, founder of the Inverclyde Globetrotters, created the World Walking app -- a tool users can activate to log miles and apply them to a virtual map of their choosing. The most recent addition to World Walking's catalog is the Race Across the USA 3,080 mile long route across the United States. Now, teachers participating in the 100 Mile Club or simply following Race Across the USA can add up the miles of their students each week and enter them into the World Walking website. This way, students can chart their progress and virtually run along-side the ultramarathon athletes. Each virtual trail includes fun and sometimes surprising geography facts as well, so children can exercise their brains and their bodies. To see the Race Across the USA route on the World Walking website, follow this link. http://worldwalking.org/route/i2bk0o

The goals for the Race Across the USA are threefold:

* Raise awareness about childhood activity and fitness in young people

* Raise funds to sponsor students who cannot afford the cost of qualified activity programs

* Visit schools along the route to inspire students to lead active lives

The Race Across the USA will start in California and end in Maryland, covering a total of 12 states (CA, AZ, NM, TX, LA, AR, MS, AL, GA, SC, NC, VA) plus Washington DC. A dozen or so athletes will run across the United States, coast to coast. In addition, a limited number of others may sign up to run across a state or take part in one of 13 four-day events. The total distance of the route is approximately 3,080 miles. The event is scheduled to begin on January 16, 2015. To learn more about the Race Across the USA, contact the author or visit http://www.raceacrossusa.org.