FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 12, 2008

BLUE GRASS ELEMENTARY WINS CARITEN KIDS’ RUN FITTEST SCHOOL CHALLENGE

Blue Grass Elementary School won the “Fittest School Challenge,” a competition between Knox County elementary schools participating in the Cariten Kids’ Run, part of the Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon.

Cariten introduced the “Fittest School Challenge” as part of the 2008 Kids’ Run to encourage Knoxville youth to participate in the Kids’ Run and get excited about exercising.

Blue Grass Elementary, located in West Knoxville, had the greatest percentage of participants based on total student population. Carter Elementary School in East Knoxville took second place, and West Hills Elementary School in the West Hills community of Knoxville took third place. Blue Grass also had the largest number of participants overall.

On Monday, May 12, Blue Grass Elementary was presented with the grand prize, a $500 gift card to Dick’s Sporting Goods to purchase gym and athletic equipment and a Cariten Kids’ Run gym bag. Plaques were awarded to the top three schools, and certificates were presented to each participating school.

“We are proud of all the children who participated in this year’s Cariten Kids’ Run, and congratulate the winning schools on making a great commitment to healthy lifestyles,” said Jennifer Burke, senior marketing specialist for Cariten Healthcare. “We hope that the ‘Fittest School Challenge’ will grow each year as a way to get Knox County kids even more excited about the run and about exercising.”

Others close in the running for “fittest school” included A. L. Lotts Elementary School, Amherst Elementary School, Bearden Elementary School, Cedar Bluff Elementary School, Farragut Intermediate School, Karns Elementary School, Sequoyah Elementary School and Sterchi Elementary School.

“We are very pleased that Cariten Healthcare and Knox County Schools were able to launch the ‘Fittest School Challenge’ this year to encourage our youth to be physically active,” said Aneisa McDonald, Knox County coordinated school health specialist. “Thank you to Cariten for providing this opportunity and rewarding our participants. We hope that this program grows in the future and continues to show kids that healthy activities can be really fun.”

All children 12 and under can participate in the Cariten Kids’ Run, and each Knox County child could indicate his or her school on the registration form.

For more information about the Cariten Kids’ Run, visit http://www.knoxvillemarathon.com.

Majority owned by Covenant Health, Cariten Healthcare has more than 550,000 members. More than 6,000 primary care and specialty physicians and 67 hospitals comprise the provider network for Cariten health plans and services. For more information, visit http://www.cariten.com.

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