Press Release

Count Your Steps Pedometer Walking Program Heads for the Finish Line

Pontiac, MI, March 23, 2006 - With just one week remaining in the 2006 Count Your Steps pedometer walking program for third and fourth grade youngsters in Oakland County, Troy has pulled ahead of Walled Lake as the leading school district.

Troy with 145,200,595 total steps has edged ahead of Walled Lake which has 144,349,300 steps.  In the third spot currently is Rochester with 143,856,099 steps followed by Waterford with 71,878,779 steps and Birmingham with 64,980,866 steps.

Birmingham Covington Elementary remains the top school, registering 35,146,205 total steps so far.  In second place is Green Elementary in West Bloomfield with 30,591,347 steps while the third spot goes to Oxford Elementary with 28,136,768 steps.

"While the competition is exciting, the real value of Count Your Steps is what it's doing to make kids more aware of the positive benefits of regular exercise and proper nutrition," said Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson who founded the program three years ago.

Major sponsors for the program this year are General Motors, POH Medical Center, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan and Detroit Shock.  Contributing sponsors are Rock Financial, TV-20, Henry Ford Health Systems, HAP, Oakland Schools and Oakland County Parks.

Swin Cash, star forward of the WNBA Champion Detroit Shock, is serving as the official spokesperson for this years program.

Count Your Steps ends on March 31st.

For media inquiries only, please contact Bob Dustman, Oakland County Media and Communications Officer at 248-858-1048.

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