100 Alabama Miles Challenge

From its highland mountains and plateaus in the north to its rolling hills and meandering rivers in the south, Alabama has a beautiful and diverse landscape worth exploring. Our state also has thousands of miles of recreational trails that make experiencing these places easy and fun, and with one of the highest obesity and obesity‐related disease rates in the country, Alabama has both the opportunity and the need to inspire its citizens to get outside and enjoy the benefits of active living.
The 100 Alabama Miles Challenge is a statewide public program designed to inspire all Alabamians to walk, run, hike, bike, swim, paddle, ride, or roll 100 miles each year. While Alabamians can participate at home, in their neighborhood, or at their favorite gym, the program encourages participants to get their miles in by visiting Alabama’s beautiful parks, nature preserves, and rivers with their friends and family. The program seeks to encourage all Alabamians to be active, go explore, and connect with others. 

The 2020 season of the Challenge officially kicks off on Saturday, March 14 with a public event held at Birmingham’s Railroad Park at 9:00 a.m.  Featured at this event will be 100 Alabama Miles Ambassadors, who will share their personal stories about the importance of active living and their favorite places to explore in our state.  Attendees will receive free program tee shirts and decals and participate in a one-mile walk as a symbolic “first mile” of the Challenge for 2020.  Later in the season, similar kick-off events will be held in other cities around Alabama.

The 100 Alabama Mile Challenge rolled out in the Spring of 2018 as a sustained program that will inspire people to run, walk, hike, bike, ride, roll, paddle, or swim 100 miles each year and to do so by visiting Alabama’s wonderful parks, nature preserves, and rivers. Participants register on the website and log their activity, mileage, and places that they visit, and by doing so, they can track their progress, earn electronic milestone badges, and even compete with friends, family, and colleagues. Through a public awareness and engagement campaign each spring that will involve a media blitz, celebrity spokespeople, and community kick‐off events throughout the state, we are engaging and exciting the public to BE ACTIVE, GO EXPLORE, and CONNECT WITH OTHERS.

​This program assists Alabama cities, towns, and rural areas in realizing the multiple health, community, and economic benefits associated with outdoor trail recreation, and will increase public use and appreciation of our local, state, and federally managed recreational lands.

​Staff from The University of Alabama Center for Economic Development coordinates this program with a steering committee that includes the Alabama Trails Commission, The Lakeshore Foundation, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, Jefferson County Department of Health, Governor’s Commission on Physical Fitness and Sports, AARP, Alabama Obesity Task Force, and Alabama Department of Public Health.