2009 Marks 20th Anniversary of the CVS Caremark Downtown 5K

Record Number of Registrants and Strongest-ever 5K Elite Field

Twenty years and running! The 2009 CVS Caremark Downtown 5K – Rhode Island’s largest road race and one of the state’s staple community events – will spring into action today with a rich history and a tale of evolution.

The inaugural race, which started and ended in Kennedy Plaza on Sunday, October 21, 1990, included approximately 3,500 runners in the main 5K race and 500 runners in the youth races. The Downtown 5K has since evolved into a first-class event featuring elite runners from around the world competing for the USA Track & Field (USATF) 5K championship, generations of family members running together, and an event that offers a fun, competitive and healthy activity for every age and running ability. As of yesterday afternoon, over 9,500 runners had registered for this year’s CVS Caremark Downtown 5K. Approximately 1,900 had registered for the Youth races, 1,750 for the High School Inspirational 3K and 5,900 for the 5K.

More women than men will compete in this year’s race – approximately 55 percent women and 44 percent men. This is a sharp departure from the inaugural race when it was four men runners to every woman runner. This is on par with a key national trend documented by Running USA, which shows the increase of females in U.S. road running events surging from 21 percent in 1987 to approximately 50 percent in 2007 and 2008.

The CVS Caremark Downtown 5K will kick-off this morning with 21 different races for children, pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, including an All Kids Can Inspirational event for children with physical and intellectual disabilities. The youth races will be followed by the main 5K race that will feature several elite and world-class runners, including Anthony Famiglietti, who won last year’s race after participating in the Beijing Olympics. The 5K race will also include amateur runners competing as individuals or on college, corporate, police and firefighter teams, and walkers. The event will conclude with a High School Inspirational 3K for student athletes. Throughout the day, bands that have donated their time and talent will be performing along the race course.

This year, the CVS Caremark Downtown 5K is pleased to welcome Tufts Health Plan as the new sponsor for the High School Inspirational 3K. Student athletes from all high schools in Rhode Island and southern New England were invited to form school running teams for the Inspirational 3K. All participating high schools that finish 25 participants from their school team will be eligible for one of ten random drawings of $500 to be used for the physical education and/or track programs at their respective schools.

New this year is a School Spirit costume contest for high school students, also sponsored by Tufts Health Plan. Judges will select the school team with the most creative costumes and award that team with new track uniforms (up to $750 value).  All participants in the costume contest will receive a complimentary stopwatch.
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A change from the last couple of years is that race headquarters are at the Rhode Island State House Lawn on Gaspee Street. Final registration and race packet pickup will be handled there today from 7:15 to 10:45 a.m. All race participants will receive a CVS Caremark Downtown 5K
T-shirt. The first 4,000 registrants received a high-quality technical race T-shirt and gift bag and registrants up to the 5,000 mark received a gift bag. The CVS Caremark Downtown 5K will start and finish on Francis Street in front of the Rhode Island State House in downtown Providence.

For more information about the 2009 CVS Caremark Downtown 5K, go to www.cvsdowntown5k.com or call the race hot line at 401-751-7287. Race results will be posted to the Web site by 4 p.m. today. In addition to these resources, a 30-minute highlight show on the race will air tomorrow, September 21, on WJAR-TV NBC10 at 7 p.m.

About the Downtown 5K
The Downtown 5K is recognized by the IRS as a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization that promotes health and fitness through road racing. Proceeds from the annual race event are donated to local youth charities in Rhode Island and Southern New England.

About CVS Caremark
CVS Caremark is the largest provider of prescriptions in the nation. The Company fills or manages more than 1 billion prescriptions annually. Through its unmatched breadth of service offerings, CVS Caremark is transforming the delivery of health care services in the U.S. The Company is uniquely positioned to effectively manage costs and improve health care outcomes through its more than 6,900 CVS/pharmacy and Longs Drugs stores; its Caremark Pharmacy Services division (pharmacy benefit management, mail order and specialty pharmacy); its retail-based health clinic subsidiary, MinuteClinic; and its online pharmacy, CVS.com. General information about CVS Caremark is available through the Investor Relations section of the Company's Web site, at www.cvscaremark.com/investors, as well as through the press room section of the Company's Web site, at www.cvscaremark.com/newsroom.