The Great Prairie Race is back for the month of February thanks to the Northern Lights Movement for Kids. The goal is for youth to connect by learning about each other’s communities through fitness and a virtual meeting.
It’s about physical fitness and movement. Participants can choose to walk, run, wheel, skate, snowshoe or cross-country ski. Each time they move, they keep track of their distance covered and add it up as a group.
The checklist, provided by Northern Lights Movement for Kids, is simple:
1. Map out a 1 km walk in your community or schoolyard or calculate how many laps around a gym = 1 km.
2. Keep track of distance moved each day.
3. The communities meet virtually at the beginning of the journey on Monday, February 3rd at 11:00 a.m. (SK time) to say hello.
4. Send student-made Valentines. Examples of places to send Valentine’s to: youth centres, local hospital, local nursing home, local retirement home, another school that is participating in the NLMFK’s Great Prairie Race. If sending by mail, please allow enough time for delivery to ensure they arrive by February 14th.
5. Submit distance moved to info@northernlightsmovementforkids.ca on or before Friday, February 28th, 2025.
6. Each school will select two student representatives to share about their community during the last virtual meeting (see below for list of questions). and the end of the challenge on Monday, March 3rd at 11:00 a.m. (SK/MB time) and 10:00 a.m. (AB time).
7. Teachers who register their class, submit their distance moved and show evidence of sending Valentines will be entered for a chance to win class prizes.
8. If you would like to share your journey, distance travelled, and connections made along the way, please use the following tag: #greatprairierace
It’s a great opportunity for youth, parents, teachers and all supporters to be physically active, meet new people and learn about each other while supporting mental health and well-being and inspiring success.
In 2024, 20 schools participated and tallied their distances moved for a combined total of 9,138 kms.
The Northern Lights Movement for Kids is an organization established in memory of Jacob Leicht, member of the 2017-18 Humboldt Broncos.