Walk Across Arkansas teams rack up 1.3 million minutes of exercise

More than 200 teams with nearly 800 members racked up 1.35 million minutes of exercise during the eight weeks of the spring edition of Walk Across Arkansas.

May 28, 2021

By Mary Hightower
U of A System Division of Agriculture

Fast facts

Walk Across Arkansas attracts more than 200 teams
Crittenden County participants amass most exercise minutes

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LITTLE ROCK — More than 200 teams with nearly 800 members racked up 1.35 million minutes of exercise during the eight weeks of the spring edition of Walk Across Arkansas.

Walk Across Arkansas, held twice a year, is a public health event that invites Arkansans to commit to improving their fitness. Participants record the number of minutes they exercise and can gauge their efforts against other teams through an online scoreboard.

This year’s top team was the Marion Robust Walkers of Pulaski County. Rounding out the top 10 teams were:

Mixed Bag of Nuts, a team from Franklin County
I Walk the Line, Carroll County
Recess Racers, Prairie County
Evans Fitness, Crittenden County
4 Queens and a King, Franklin County
Wonder Women 1, Hempstead County
WES Specials of Scott County
Pulaski Pacers of Pulaski County, and
Flab-U-Less 8 of Crawford County.

The top five counties whose teams recorded the most minutes of exercise are:

Crittenden - 222,930
Pulaski - 112,073
Prairie - 88,739
Scott - 77,556
Grant - 55,249.

Using a 10-minute mile as a yardstick, Heather Jackson, extension health program assistant for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, translated the minutes to miles.

“Interstate 40 is 284.7 miles one way and our participants walked I-40 473.26 times,” she said. “Or to look at it another way, there are roughly 1,800 miles of hiking trails in Arkansas and our participants walked them 75 times.”

“That’s quite an achievement,” Jackson said.

Participation included a brief post-event survey. Jackson said. 68 percent of the participants said they met the suggested 150-minutes-per-week suggested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The idea behind Walk Across Arkansas is simple. Commit to eight weeks of exercise and form a good habit,” she said. “I think we saw many people accomplish that goal this spring.”

Registration for the fall edition of Walk Across Arkansas opens Aug. 30. The event runs Sept.13-Nov. 7.

To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit uaex.uada.edu. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: aaes.uada.edu. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit uada.edu

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.

The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on five system campuses.

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

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Media contact:
Mary Hightower
mhightower@uada.edu
501-671-2006