Walk To the Cave Challenge 

The adult obesity rate for Hart County in 2012 was 34% and only 63% of adults living in the county indicated that they were physically activity. This inactivity along with the obesity rate resulted in 26% of adults saying they were in poor to fair and 11% indicating they had diabetes. In neighboring Edmonson County, the 2012 report indicated a 34% adult obesity rate as well with only 29% of adults living in Edmonson County indicating they were physically active. Edmonson’s diabetes rate was at 14%.     

To address the health issues in the two counties and to motivate participates; the Edmonson and Hart County Extension offices launched a friendly competition. The 10-week series entitled Walk To The Cave Challenge was designed to not only encourage walkers to increase the number of active minutes and steps walked but to also build their endurance to be able to walk with the group to the mouth of Mammoth Cave via various trails on awards day.   

Educational information distributed through a closed Facebook group as well as weekly newsletters covered topics such as nutrition and motivational tips. Face to face, meetings at the Hart County Extension Office and LeGrande Elementary School allowed participates to have more interaction that is social during the challenge.  

As a direct result of this program 42 participates had 91, 509 active minutes and walked 16,306,201 steps, which is equivalent to approximately to 7,720 miles. They group also lost a total of 115 pounds.   Evaluations revealed that those participating felt the challenge motivated them to get moving, helped improve their health numbers and enabled them to learn from Extension programing and others.