BHCS students challenge their fitness in PACER Olympics

BLUE HILL—Stretched across one end of the Blue Hill Consolidated School gymnasium October 29, 31 students were poised to take offrunning—not for speed but for endurance, in a program where students compete against their own level of fitness.

- ANNE BERLEANT

How many laps could they run back and forth across the shiny hardwood floor before dropping in exhaustion?

PACER stands for Progressive Aerobic Capacity Endurance Run, and these middle school students had already made the PACER Olympics team by scoring over a 90 during gym class, where PACER was implemented by physical education teacher Bob McCormick in 2006. The goal was to improve students’ cardiovascular fitness, and therefore decrease the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer, BHCS Principal Shelly Schildroth said, and the students’ results stood out.