WAYNE COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- West Virginia has one of the highest obesity rates in the country.

Children are not immune. In fact, at the middle school level roughly 25% are considered obese.

Today, we visited one school in Wayne County where community leaders saw this trend two decades ago. Now, twenty years later, they're still racing to fight childhood obesity and boost fitness levels.

Many of the students at Prichard Elementary are doing exactly what their parents did a generation ago.

"It wasn't making a lot of news then and people aren't as aware of it as it is today," Principal Bambie Cyrus said.

Cyrus remembers a bunch of teenagers getting together, worried about inactivity and the waistline of students that was starting to expand.

"It helps kids get healthier and improve their health and be better when you're older and it really helps," Fifth Grader Allisa Grant said.

That's how this fun run was born.

Children come in all shapes and sizes. But the goal here is a healthier child, regardless of size.

"In the last 20 years, the kids are getting bigger, they're getting lazier, they're not as healthy as they were 20 years ago; that's why we keep this tradition going," Cyrus said.

Kathy Valdez ran her first race as a fifth grader. Now she's a 30-year-old mother of two. Her son shattered her record of long ago Friday and finished in first place.

"I would like to see all kids everywhere get off the couch, get outside, have fun," Cyrus said.

"I think it's great for the kids you got them to exercise as part of their daily life," Kathy Valdez said. "I think it would be great, I'd love to be out here with my grandkids.

Running for their own cure with a race that hopefully will obliterate obesity.