The city of McAllen won first place in the large Texas cities category for the It’s Time Texas community challenge that promotes healthy activity.
More than 2,200 members of the McAllen community participated, logging 1,881,750 minutes of activity and 273 pounds lost during the challenge that ended on March 4. More than 21,000 people from schools, businesses, government workers and elected officials participated.
McAllen’s efforts were led by Mayor Jim Darling, who established a McAllen Mayor’s Fitness Council and signed a healthy pledge as part of the challenge.
“This was a unique opportunity for McAllen residents to get healthy,” Darling said in a statement. “It was a win all the way around. We increased healthy activity and we have bragging rights now for being one of the healthiest large cities in Texas.”
Other cities participating in the large category included Brownsville, Garland, Lewisville, Pasadena and Plano, among others. The one category above large was metro, which Austin won. The midsize winner was Harlingen, the small city category resulted in a tie between Prosper and Lancaster and the extra small city winner was Smithville.
