Mark Courtney is into streaks. His running streak dates back to the Spring of 1979! So getting kids at the local middle school to Run A Mile to support the American Running Association’s Youth Fitness Campaign was a no-brainer. Courtney has been a long-time resident of Grove City PA and operates one of the larger Road Race and Running event timing businesses in the Eastern half of the United States, RUNNERS’ HIGH.

The RUN A MILE Days events have kept up their running streak. Grove City’s Middle School with the assistance of Mark Courtney was the pilot school and model for the RUN A MILE Campaign. 2019 represented its 12th year in a row of running the mile. 

The fully-timed method of the RUN A MILE Day in Grove City. This could be the model in your town for the middle school or a group of schools——- 

The Course

Get ahold of a “Timing Wheel”. Often the local high school Track Coach has one. See if he or she will become a volunteer for your RUN A MILE event(s). Use the wheel to measure out a lap Course that fits your school’s property. You want a level field or paved area. As we found in Grove City, the weather demands a backup course on pavement to account for the days when ran can make a grass field too treacherous or plain muddy to Run A Mile.

The Timing System

We work with Courtney’s RUNNERS HIGH company as he employs two timing systems. The one that works best is a chip-based timing system where each student is matched up with a numbered Chip for each class’ time running the mile. Courtney imports the file for each class and has a Mile Time for each Chip #. The teacher has a file or list with a student’s name next to the Chip #. Post-Mile Race, the teacher then has a file with a Mile Time next to the student’s name.

The Results

After 3-4 days of RUN A MILE Days events, Courtney produced a result that ranked all the boys and girls in both the Middle School and the Elementary School. Each Class had their result and the Lead PE teachers could present the results any way they wished

Happy faces abounded once again at the Grove City Schools’ RUN A MILE Days!.