Stark Parks Wins State Award

Ohio Parks and Recreation Association (OPRA) has announced its 2012 Annual Awards of Excellence winners, and one  local agency has been recognized. The Stark County Park District has won a 2nd place award in the Health and Fitness category for its Hike-a-Hundred
program.

The walking program to encourage healthy lifestyles is
designed to (1) provide an
incentive program to encourage residents to walk

 (2) showcase Stark
Parks’ wide variety of trails and parks to walkers,

(3)  create a corps of friendly walkers to serve as unofficial ambassadors for the park district, and

(4) provide a way for active people with similar interests
to meet one another

The walking club concept, supplemented with awards,
surpassed expectations. Members chose a 10,000-mile Club goal for 2012 and
surpassed it.  Fifty members began the
program in January, and by the end of September there were 196 members.  Attendance at eight Club-sponsored walks varied
from seven to more than 45, providing opportunities for walkers to make new
friends who share their interests.

Following a January 3 kick-off event, it took 50
members only two weeks to walk over 427 miles. By Sept. 25^th, 109 members (56%) had reached their 50-mile goal, and 68 members (34%) had surpassed the 100-mile goal. Seven (7) members have over 500 miles each, and
the top walker, a female retiree, has walked over 1,100 miles!

 The Club reached its 10,000-mile goal on June 29, and by Sept. 25, the Club had 196 members who
had walked a total of 20,512 miles! After the Hoover Trail and Middle Branch Trail were opened on June 2, their use by Club members in two months had
surpassed their use of the 25-mile Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail for the previous seven months! 
One member has lost enough weight to halve his
cholesterol medicine and has only four more pounds to lose before his doctor says he can stop taking it altogether! Another member has hiked every mile with
her dog; the dog has lost 15 lbs and the member has lost weight too!