World Athletics is pleased to launch the World Mile Challenge ahead of this year’s Kids’ Athletics Day – an annual celebration of children and young people being active and participating in athletics – which will take place on 7 May 2024.
An exciting twist has been added to the 2024 Kids’ Athletics Day theme – the World Mile Challenge. In honour of the 70th anniversary of Roger Bannister breaking the four-minute mile on 6 May 1954, this year’s focus is on running, jogging or walking a mile. We are aiming to ‘Run the World’ one mile at a time.
In parallel, World Athletics is also excited to launch the World Mile Challenge web app which will act as a central hub for the campaign across the world, allowing athletics federations, clubs, schools, and individuals to register their miles.
To encourage participants to ‘go the extra mile’, there will be a ‘total miles run’ calculator clocking the miles registered in real time between 1 and 19 May so that all participants can track their collective progress.
How to get involved
Participants will be able to sign into the web app as an organisation or an individual. An organisation can be a Member Federation, club, school, or any community group. You’ll be required to register the total number of miles run by the children (and adults) that took part in your events or activities. Once you’ve registered your miles, you’ll receive a digital badge for your organisation to share on social media. If children and families want to do the challenge in their own time and in their own environment, they can register as an individual and even challenge friends and family to do the same.
To help encourage clubs, schools, and families to take part in the challenge, the web app also features a mix of athletics related educational content and quizzes.
Please make sure to also share your initiatives/events with us by posting your pictures/videos of your version of Kids’ Athletics Day and the World Mile Challenge on social media using the hashtags #KidsAthleticsDay #WorldMileChallenge
Member Federation Challenge
After the successful inclusion of the Kids’ Athletics Day Member Federation Challenge in 2023, we are bringing it back for 2024. Our goal is to see the highest ever level of participation in Kids’ Athletics Day across our Member Federations (MF).
The winner will be the MF with the best Kids’ Athletics Day participation measured by a combination of participation numbers, social media engagement levels and overall innovation. The Federation Challenge winner and runners up will receive US$10,000 and 2x US$5,000 respectively to support future Kids’ Athletics activities.
About Kids’ Athletics Day
Kids’ Athletics Day is the cornerstone of World Athletics’ Kids’ Athletics programme – a free and exciting programme that uses the power of athletics to inspire children and young people, wherever they are, to be more active, develop their skills and confidence, and to connect with sport for life.
Kids’ Athletics is one of the biggest grassroots development programmes in the world of sport. Since the original Kids Athletics programme was launched in 2002, it has been implemented by more than 150 Member Federations and has reached an estimated cumulative audience of more than 13 million children and young people.
