Healthy Lombard offers raffle tickets for riding bikes

Children can earn a raffle ticket for big prizes by riding their bikes Saturday morning in Healthy Lombard's first "Tour de Apple."

Healthy Lombard founder Jay Wojcik said families are welcome to attend the free event from 9 to 11 a.m. at Madison Meadow Park, 550 E. Madison St. Kids will get a raffle ticket for every lap they complete around a 0.75-mile path.

"It's a bike race, but they're competing against themselves," Wojcik said. "We like that because you don't have ... only one winner."

The raffle is part of the organization's annual Flat Apple program, which encourages kids to stay active during the summer.

This year, two-dimensional apple-shaped raffle tickets are being handed out to kids who participate in Healthy Lombard events between June 1 and Sept. 20. The organization hosted a "Dash on Ash" for kids during a 5K race for Outreach House in June and plans are underway for a fitness challenge event during National Night Out in August.

"It should just be a fun event," Wojcik said of Saturday's race. "It's free, it's healthy."

LiNiTo Cycle will be at the event providing bicycle safety demonstrations, along with volunteers from the Kiwanis who will be stationed along the path, "encouraging the kids and cheering them on and getting them excited about doing something healthy for the summer," Wojcik said.

Raffle prizes include an iPad, a bicycle, Beats headphones and gift certificates. Children ages 4 to 14 still can register for the summer program at healthylombard.com.

More than 500 kids participated in the Flat Apple program last year. Wojcik said she is pleased with the growth and hopes more people continue to turn to Healthy Lombard when they're looking for new ways to keep kids active while they're out of school.

"We're hoping to make a difference," she said.