Healthier Haskell kicks off Wednesday / LJWorld.com

Archive for Monday, August 24, 2009

By Andy Hyland

August 24, 2009

Also scheduled for this week at Haskell Indian Nations University is the school’s Welcome Back Powwow.

Time: Gourd Dance at 4:30 p.m., Grand Entry at 6 p.m.

Date: Friday

Place: Haskell Powwow Grounds

For the past two years, participants in the Healthier Haskell program aimed to walk around the world — 24,901 miles.

Last year, the goal was too easy. They circled the earth several times.

Now, they are aiming for the moon — more than 238,000 miles.

Healthier Haskell is a program to encourage better fitness, nutrition and wellness in the Lawrence community. The focal point of the initiative is a program in which individuals and teams track their distance. Participants can log their miles by running, walking or bicycling.

This year’s kickoff event will be at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Haskell Stadium, and it is open to anyone. The event will include registration, followed by a two-mile walk or run.

Freda Gipp, an event organizer, said participants are eligible for prizes when they reach certain milestones.

“This whole effort is to get people involved, to get people walking, and it’s really on their own,” she said.

This is the third year for the event that was initiated by President Linda Sue Warner as a way to engage the broader community on the importance of wellness.

Gipp said her husband, Albert Gipp, the school’s cross-country coach, developed the Healthier Haskell program to accomplish Warner’s goals and promote a healthier lifestyle.

The program does not target any particular health concern, but instead allows people to participate at their own personal level.

Participants can e-mail or fax their progress on their miles, and they are all tallied and added together to reach a cumulative total among the entire group, Gipp said.

Last year, more than 1,500 people signed up and walked more than 100,000 miles, she said.