Alameda County Students Walk, Roll, Bike and Carpool to School for the Golden Sneaker Contest

Students throughout Alameda County are getting active and engaging in some friendly competition by participating in the fourth annual “Pollution Solution Golden Sneaker Contest.” Approximately 70,000 students from 107 schools are walking, biking, carpooling, and taking transit to school from March 2 – 13. This includes students from 22 schools in the cities of Alameda, San Leandro, and Oakland, and unincorporated San Lorenzo.

Sponsored by Alameda County’s Safe Routes to Schools Program and funded by the Alameda County Transportation Commission (Alameda CTC) and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the annual contest shows students and parents how easy it is to use green modes of transportation, while promoting healthy activities and teamwork.

The participating classes are striving to have the highest number of students that use active or shared transportation to commute to and from school, in order to receive the coveted “Golden Sneaker” trophy. The school with the greatest increase in student participation will get the ultimate prize, the “Platinum Sneaker,” and will be honored by the Alameda CTC meeting on March 26.

“The Golden Sneaker Contest is about encouraging students to walk, roll, bike, or carpool to school,” says Alameda CTC Chair Supervisor Wilma Chan. “Promoting healthy choices for students in Alameda County is important to me. The more we encourage students to get to school in an active way, the healthier our students will be.”