Bike Trip Forums: Fitnessrace - 2nd Place

Hey, fitnessrace.com finished second place in CNN’s “Fit Nation” contest, and it will be aired in the near future! Here is the article posted today at the CNN web site..
http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/11/20/fit.nation.winner/index.html

If you want to see the two minute piece at youtube, here is the link..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L5zmaR8b-s

That’s the short version, now if you’d like details and to read what's been going on at fitnessrace.com, keep reading

Greetings from www.fitnessrace.com , I have some exciting news to share. I was recently informed that we placed second in CNN's "Fit Nation" contest. This contest was put on by CNN & Dr. Sanjay Gupta with the goal of seeing who could implement a successful fitness program in their community.

A little bit about the piece that will be aired. Its two minutes long and it captures a VERY small portion of a 2 1/2 week "Million Mile Challenge" tour that Cirque Productions and I put on in September. Some of the photo's can be seen here..
http://fitnessrace.smugmug.com/gallery/1915288

Brian, Leon, Peter and Brad from Cirque Productions (North Carolina) drove out to Minnesota and we participated in 2 1/2 weeks of events. The major event, Sept 12th, was an all day fitness event at Bunker Hills Park in Coon Rapids. We took folks out on walk, run, and bike outings at the top of each hour, all day, and the Cirque guys
shared some of their exciting stories from their adventures on the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail and biking across America. I did a demo of the web site and shared about the MMC. We had 230 folks show up that included students from Blaine High School, 4H Hi-Adventures, and For Zions Sake dance team. It was a great day, beautiful weather, and a big hit.

Most of the two minute piece we submitted came from that day, although we also rolled a ton of footage we will use to promote the Million Mile Challenge program. Included in the tour was 2 triathlons, 2 5k runs, speaking at REI and Meadowcreek Christian School, a bike outing with Boston Scientific, and some special events with Charities Challenge. You will see Gary and Jeanne from Charities Challenge speaking (by lake Como) in the two minute piece, they provided incredible interviews for the shoot. Bri & Heath came out from NC for a triathlon each and Bri took first place in the St Croix Valley women's division.

Cirque Productions and fitnessrace.com are working closely now to further promote our common goal, get the nation excited about fitness and adventures. There is another 4 ½ minute piece they developed for the MMC available at youtube.com at this address..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC3kamUNpa8

Since that time some other things have been taking place with the MMC program. I'm now working with the Univ of NC in a grant application that if approved will be used to help provide a tool-kit for middle schools, to address health issues (obesity, type 2 diabetes, etc..) through a fun and exciting fitness and nutritional data tracker. We've put on 2 month long challenges with the 4H crew and For Zions Sake, and learned a number of things to make the program more successful and easier to implement. They were a big hit! I'm also preparing for a December challenge with Meadowcreek school that should be a lot of fun.

The web site is constantly undergoing changes, and soon we will have a new fancy "flash" front-end to the web site that will make registering and tracking your miles much easier. Check out www.fitnessrace.com in the next few weeks for the new interface!

If you havn’t visited fitnessrace.com in a while I hope you will stop on by. It only takes seconds to log your miles, and I’d like to introduce you to a new and exciting challenge feature. You can have a challenge customized for your fitness goals, just set a date range, a distance goal, and any behavioral or nutritional changes you want to shoot for. Read more about challenges at
http://www.fitnessrace.com/bike/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=4129
Your challenge might be used to help others reach their fitness goals, so give it a try!

I am hopeful that the CNN piece will help boost the program, a great way to make fitness fun and exciting. I'm always here for questions, don't hesitate to contact me.

Dean

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