Fitness Fair attracts hundreds of participants

Hundreds flocked to the Minachom Atdao Saturday morning for a fun-filled day by the beach and to learn more about living a healthy life during the 3rd Annual Family Fitness Fair.

According to planning committee chair Myrna M. Quitugua of the Department of Public Health, all goals and objectives of the event were met.

“I think this is a great number of participants,” she said. “It’s really successful and I’m glad to see that we met our goals and objective. We wanted families to come out and get information from the health exhibits here… I believe it was a success.”

Hosted by the Women’s Affairs Office and non-profit organization Heart of the Marianas, the event kicked off with a walk-a-thon led by the Saipan Walking Association Inc. along the Beach Road Pathway.

After the early morning exercise, several participants took advantage of the free cholesterol and glucose test being administered at the site.

Adult and youth games, including rope jump, balloon popping, Sponge Bob Rally, sack race, Dutch ball, and Rocball were also played later in the day.

“I was called to bring Rocball, and it’s good exposure for the sport and is also good to have these young kids try it out and have fun,” Rocball founder James Feger said.

The event also featured aerobics and Taichi demonstrations courtesy of Gold’s Gym, and exhibits with various information on healthy diet and diseases, among others.

“I think it’s really important to get the message of healthy living out there,” said Saipan Seventh Day Adventist schoolteacher Sean Maycock. “The best thing is to let people know that it is possible. A lot of times people feel kind a hopeless, thinking it’s too hard to live a healthier life, and one of the great things about this event is that it shows easy ways that they can fit into their lives to eat healthier and live healthier.”

Maycock also provided a recipe book on several low cholesterol dishes. “All these recipes, we’ve got a great response. So far every one seems to like them as they’re helping themselves. They love them. People assume a vegetarian diet isn’t going to taste good, but so far so good. Every recipe we’ve made, they loved and raved about it.”

Molins Epison, one of the many children at the event, said the activities featured at the fair would help them in making choices for healthier living.

“It’s fun, I really like the Rocball part,” he said. “I was here from the beginning. I walked, and I think this kind of event will help the youngsters want to live a healthy life. Others will know more about the activities, and the word will spread.”

Further, Quitugua said majority of the participants have indicated their desire for similar events in the near future.

We’ve got good feedback,” she said. “As a matter of fact, kids are asking if we can continue this next month, and so we’re going to try to arrange with the schools if we can do something with them. We have representatives from the Youth Affairs Office, Gold’s Gym, and others and we’re going to try to coordinate more activities.”

Fellow committee member Chailang Palacios explained that the event empowers members of the community to take control of their lives.

“This gives power to the community because they realize that it’s not like we say ‘hey come here and we take your blood pressure,’ but they see that there’s also fun,” she said. “The young kids especially, when they hear about health, many would think ‘it’s health so it’s boring’ but we put this together to give kids the power to know that findings way to be healthy can also be very fun, and we’re proving it to them today because many are having a lot of fun.”

“Kids love action, and different games, sports, that’s what they like. We need more of this,” she added.