WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — More than 500 students from the third through eighth grades are scheduled to participate in the fifth-annual Uptown Games Sunday at the Fort Washington Avenue Armory.
The games, launched to combat the high obesity rate in Washington Heights and Inwood, will give students from more than 40 schools the opportunity to compete in short- and long-distance races, team relays and learn from members of the New York Road Runners.
State Sen. Adriano Espaillat conceived the event as a way to combat childhood obesity and get children interested in track and field.
“Over the past four years more than 1,000 students have competed in the Uptown Games and we want to continue building on that success by expanding our efforts to lower childhood obesity rates in Upper Manhattan," Espaillat said in a statement.