NEW ORLEANS OR BUST

Will and Jason Kimble must be a couple of nutty kids. While we adults painfully pull on our Nikes for a torturous run or reluctantly climb on our Raleighs for an uphill bicycle ride, these two are riding bikes for fun, and they’re running around because that’s what their feet naturally do when they hit the ground. But these kids aren’t just your average 11-and 14-year-olds. They’re gluttons for punishment (or “pleasure,” as they youthfully refer to it). This summer, the two brothers are joining a group of Canadian youngsters who are bicycling and running from Canada to New Orleans: 1,500 miles.

The Kimble brothers will leave their Arlington home in July to meet about 15 other teammates who will also participate in the fourth annual International Friendship Marathon-an unofficial, privately sponsored event that gives Canadian and American kids a chance to meet each other. The group will work as a marathon team, covering an average of about 200 miles per day, and each member will be responsible for about 25 miles of that daily trek-some portions on bicycle, others on foot.

Will Kimble participated in the trip last year after meeting Myles Caskie, a track coach and fifth- and sixth-grade teacher from Owen Sound, Ontario. At the time, the Kim-bles were living in Pennsylvania, and Will participated in a track meet in which Caskie’s team also competed. Will became acquainted with some of his Canadian peers, and Caskie invited him and four other Americans to join the trip.

We recently asked Will how much he was running to get into shape for the upcoming marathon. “None,” he said. He added that he wasn’t sure, but that he might start in a month or so. Jason, 11, runs about two miles a day “for fun.”

Fred and Alice Kimble are supportive of their sons’ desire to make the journey. They hope to follow their children for part of the trip and plan to meet them at the finish line at the World’s Fair in New Orleans. Before Will participated in last year’s marathon, the family made several trips to Owen Sound to meet Caskie and the other parents. “I think it’s a tremendous opportunity for the kids,” Fred Kimble says, “and I’ve got confidence in the people putting it together. I think I’d be pretty selfish if I didn’t let them do it.”

All funds and equipment for last year’s trip were donated by private sponsors, and the participants are hoping that the same will be true this year. For information on helping the Kimbles, call 630-1111.