'Walk to Mars' Update

After its initial launch in August at Civil Air Patrol’s National Conference in Baltimore, CAP’s “Walk to Mars” national fitness challenge has amassed enough virtual mileage to more than double the record distance humans have attained from Earth.

Right now, the total logged for the Walk to Mars is about 585,000 miles – a figure amassed by less than 10 percent of CAP’s membership. (The record for greatest distance anyone has traveled from Earth dates back nearly 50 years – NASA’s Apollo 13 crew was 248,655 miles away when it reached the far side of the moon at an altitude of 158 miles in April 1970.)

The campaign’s goal is 33.9 million miles in fitness distance by the time the next National Conference begins this August in Louisville, Kentucky.

Those who haven’t participated can easily catch up. All that’s needed is to add all distances and activities since Aug. 8 and submit them on a single entry form, using only miles or steps if walking.

After catching up, members can submit distances daily, weekly or monthly as they’re able.

Meanwhile, Col. Dale Newell, the 82-year-old Board of Governors member featured in the fall 2019 issue of CAP Volunteer’s Walk to Mars coverage, is serving as the pacer for this event. Since January he has accumulated 3.07 million steps. He has issued a challenge for all members to reach for that performance level.

By the challenge’s conclusion in August 2020, Newell expects to have logged 4.5 million steps over the preceding 12 months – 11,000-13,000 steps a day.

Any questions? Contact resilience@hc.cap.gov.