Beaumont Middle School topped the 2013 World Fit Walk national competition, logging an average of 5.0 miles per student per day and a total 225,561 miles.
World Fit emphasizes the importance of lifelong fitness and the Olympic values of perseverance, respect and fair play. An FCPS school has won the national title since the outset of the annual six-week-long contest: Beaumont in 2010, Morton in 2011, Winburn in 2012 and now Beaumont again.
Southern Middle finished fourth among large schools with a daily average of 2.7 miles per student, and Lexington Traditional Magnet tied for fifth place with 2.5 miles. Beaumont, Southern and LTMS ranked 1-2-3 among Kentucky participants.
The national champions are determined by average miles per student during the 40 days of the walk in two categories: Small schools have up to 500 students, and large school have more than 500. World Fit also designates each participant as a gold medal (averaging 3.0 or more miles per day per student), silver medal (1.5 to 2.9 miles) or bronze medal school (less than 1.5 miles).
In the large-schools category, Morton tied for seventh place, Winburn tied for ninth, Jessie Clark was 11th, Leestown tied for 14th, Tates Creek Middle finished 16th and Bryan Station Middle was 19th. Among small schools, Crawford and SCAPA at Bluegrass tied at No. 21.
Nationwide, more than 31,000 students registered for this spring's contest, and they reported a total of more than 1.8 million miles. In addition to walking with classmates, students could earn mileage points for physical activity and exercise outside school such as riding a bike, jumping on a trampoline or throwing a Frisbee.