Grapevine - Colleyville - Southlake | June 2024

Health care

BY CODY THORN

Keller, Southlake, Coppell join together for third year of Fit City Challenge

engage our community.” Kerr said the most popular activities in Coppell were walking/running, strength training, pickle- ball and dancing. Competitors in the challenge could participate in local events for points. The Run4Elise 5K run and 1-mile walk was held May 11 in Southlake, an event that provided a chance to bring a lot of points for the cities. Event organizer Lori Cerami said 600 walkers and runners competed, while the eld also fea- tured people who had signed up for the Southlake Foundation Color run. Weather canceled that event on April 20 and it turned into a merged event with between 200 and 300 running in the color run. Quote of note “This is something we look forward to every year,” The Keller Pointe Manager Michael Beaver said. “At the end of the day, there might be a winning city, but if you look at all the people who participated, it’s pretty remarkable. All these folks are working out, doing stu together to get them- selves out and about within the community.”

The details The highest average point total between the three cities won a traveling trophy, and points were tracked through an app, with each activity weighted to help level the playing eld. Keller took home the crown in 2022, while South- lake has now won two years in a row. This year, Southlake residents had 145 points, followed by Keller in second with 136 points and Coppell had 97 points. A closer look Colleyville joined the competition last year, and this year Coppell became the latest city to compete in the event, replacing Colleyville. Colleyville ocials said they were focused on other projects this spring. “Mayor Wes Ways thought it would be a great way to engage our city, encouraging and celebrat- ing their physical and mental well-being,” said Ethan Kerr, recreation supervisor at The CORE recreation center in Coppell. “I was able to engage with cities who had competed in previous years and agreed that it would be a fun challenge to

Number of participants

Keller

1,000

Southlake

1,200

Human recalls the start of the challenge was a conversation between himself and Mizani that turned into an idea. From there, sta members from both cities got involved and Fit City was created. The competition aspect was not new to either. There had been friendly wagers between the two mayors in the past, which resulted in Mizani wearing Carroll Dragon apparel to a council meeting, while Human once donned a Keller baseball jersey in a Southlake meeting. “It is great to win and anytime you have bragging rights over Keller is fun,” Human said. “But you are able to cheer your successes but able to cheer their success too. It is really special to have that competi- tion but it is really about engaging the communities to be able to inspire people to achieve tness goals and learn more about the cool facilities like the Champion Club and Keller Pointe.”

The Fit City Challenge between Southlake, Keller and Coppell has wrapped its third year of competition. This year’s event featured Southlake vs. Keller vs. Coppell and had residents competing for the title of the Most Fit City. More than 1,600 compet- itors from the three cities took part in the chal- lenge. The challengers did physical activities as well as mental challenges to increase mental health and well-being, according to a news release. The event ran from April 15 to May 15 this year and on May 16, Southlake was declared the winner. The background Keller Mayor Armin Mizani and then-Southlake Mayor John Human created the activity-centric challenge in 2022 to improve the physical and mental well-being of activities for residents.

Keller

485

Southlake

990

Colleyville

217

Keller

430

Southlake

965

Coppell

Hundreds ran in the Run4Elise 5K run and 1-mile walk in Southlake on May 11, with the event providing a chance to earn points for the challenge.

246

EULESS 900 E Harwood Rd (817) 545-2184 KELLER 101 Keller Smithfield Rd S (817) 482-8295

BEDFORD 1520 Airport Fwy (817) 508-4490 WESTLAKE 2341 Highway 377 (817) 490-9072