Published: July 12, 2008 04:19 pm      

Second Sunday event coming to Battlefield Park

A statewide event designed to get Kentuckians on their feet and moving will be coming to Madison County.

Representatives from the Madison County Cooperative Extension Office, Madison County Health Department and Madison County Greenways and Trails are in the initial planning stages of the Second Sunday Walk/Bike Madison County on the Battlefield event. Other community partners will be asked to join in the planning for the event in the near future.

Golf course paths and park trails will be open to non-motorized traffic only from 2 to 6 p.m. Oct. 12 at Battlefield Park and golf course on US 421.

Prizes will be given to the three teams with the most participants and water bottles will be available to the first 200 who register.

“The whole idea behind this is to promote physical activity throughout the state of Kentucky,” said Gina Noe, Madison County Family and Consumer Science Extension Agent. “Our goal in the county, specifically, is to create public awareness of all the new park opportunities that we have.”

“We’re inviting anyone to come out and do any non-motorized physical activity,” she said. “They can skate. They can rollerblade. They can walk, bicycle.”

The goal is to have a similar event in every county in the state of Kentucky on the same date and at the same time.

The event also will serve as the official opening of the walking/biking trails at Battlefield Park.

Participants will be able to learn history about the Civil War’s Battle of Richmond while walking on two trails at the park, said Phillip Seyfrit, Madison County historic properties director.

“They ought to be able to get a pretty good feel of how the ground was and what happened during stage one of the Battle of Richmond,” he said. “They will hear about the things that went right, the things that went wrong, who was there and how this dance of a battle came together in that portion of the battlefield. They’ll be able to get a good overview of the farm and what it was to be a farmer in 1862 when an army comes through your property.”

The location for the event also has other advantages, said Ruth Davis, health education director for the Madison County Health Department.

“Especially for those who are experienced cyclists, we didn’t want just a level street that didn’t pose any challenge for them and maybe wouldn’t be an attractive ride,” she said. “I’ve had some people in Berea in talking about the event that have said they may try to get a group together to ride up from Berea to event and then ride in the event. It would be wonderful if people could do that.”

The idea for Second Sunday originated from a conversation between Janet Kurzynske, chair of the Nutrition and Food Science Department in the University of Kentucky’s School of Human Environmental Sciences, and Lexington Fayette Urban County Councilman Jay McChord.

The goal is to encourage local counties and communities to re-examine their built environment to make it easier for people to get out of their homes and exercise by providing bike lanes on local roads, having stores within walking distances or building trails for pedestrians and cyclists.

“Walking is the least expensive type of physical activity that people can do,” Davis said. “When we’re in an economy now where everybody is counting pennies, walking is a good opportunity for people to engage in physical activity. Even in short distances, walking gives health benefits.”

“Kentucky is one of the highest states for physical inactivity,” she said. “Coupled with that is the increase in obesity among our population, both children and adults. So, this is really to look at ways to which to promote people becoming more physically active to counterbalance those negative health risks that people have.”

For details about Second Sunday, call 623-4072.

Bryan Marshall can be reached at bmarshall@richmondregister.com or 624-6691.