EVENT ENCOURAGES VALLEY KIDS TO GET OFF THE COUCH AND MOVE.

Byline: Lisa M. Sodders Staff Writer

WOODLAND HILLS - More than 600 people, most of them children and teens, bicycled, skated, ran and walked their way to fitness Saturday in the five- and 10-kilometer Kid's Fitness Challenge at the Warner Center.

Friends Shannon Russell, 12, of Woodland Hills and Erika Torres, 12, of Canoga Park, who both attend Columbus Middle School, did the five-kilometer (3.1-mile) course. Erika glided on in-line skates and Shannon used a scooter. Both girls said exercise is important because they want to be fit.

``It's fun,'' said Erika, who also likes to play basketball. ``It's great to go fast and feel the wind hitting your face. It just relaxes you. When I'm stressed ... when I start skating, the problems blow away.''

The race was part of the Warner Center Rock, Run-n-Ride Memorial Day event taking place for much of the day at Warner Center Park Saturday - including a Battle of the Bands.

The Battle of the Bands featured performers from high schools throughout the San Fernando Valley who competed to split a $2,250 prize.

The challenge was sponsored by Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys, who said he was alarmed at reports of rising levels of childhood obesity.

An avid runner himself who has run six marathons and often logs 65 miles a week, Levine says exercise helps him to focus during long and difficult legislative sessions and to work off stress.

``If I didn't run, I would not be as effective at work or anywhere else,'' said Levine, who ran the five-kilometer portion in 18 minutes and 45 seconds on Saturday.

The elementary, middle and high schools with the largest percentages of participants split a $7,500 prize, but Levine said there were free T-shirts and other prizes for all the participants to encourage more children to give fitness a try.

Several teachers did more than just encourage the children to participate - they competed themselves. And many parents made it a family day by running or riding with their children.

Steve Bennett, 46, of Woodland Hills was the first across the finish line on his bike, followed soon after by his daughter, Hanna, 13, and her friend Tatiana Corso, 12, of Thousand Oaks.

``I think it's a great idea,'' Bennett said. ``You get everyone out on a holiday weekend, and (Hanna) got to meet with her other friends.''

Hanna said she likes to play tennis, softball and swim and goes to the gym three times a week: ``I want to get some more muscle so I look a little leaner,'' she said.

Erika Becker of Canoga Park donned a bicycle helmet and rode with her daughter, Heidi, 13, in the race. Heidi's younger brother, Karl, 2, wearing his own helmet, rode in a child's seat on the back of his mother's bike.

Children under 18 are required by law to wear helmets while bicycling, and Becker said her children have always worn their helmets - ``since day one.''

Her son Kurt, 15, survived slamming into a concrete driveway from his bike with only a skull fracture five years ago because he was wearing a helmet, she said.

The event also attracted adults who were just interested in the challenge of running a five- or 10-kilometer race, including Joe Hampton, 46, of Ventura and Nick Trozzi, 43, of Panorama City.

Trozzi said he was pleased to see an event encouraging fitness for kids: ``Kids today are getting too flabby,'' he said, as he stretched before the run. ``They're not getting enough exercise.''

Lisa M. Sodders, [phone]

lisa.sodders(at)dailynews.com

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3 photos

Photo:

(1) The Lawrence Middle School Jazz Band plays in the Battle of the Bands at the Warner Center on Saturday.

(2 -- 3) A lawn audience, left, catches an act at the Battle of the Bands. Above, 3-year-old Alex Gonzales of Woodland Hills attempts to climb a 24-foot rock-climbing wall.

Joel P. Lugavere/Special to the Daily News