Using achievement goal theory as a theoretical framework, this study examined the relationships among achievement goals, perceived motivational climate, and students’ motivated behaviors in an elementary physical education running program, named Roadrunners. The Roadrunners program aimed to promote cardiovascular health as well as mastery behaviors such as persistence and effort among students. Students were required to run/walk once a week over the course of the school year during their regularly scheduled physical education classes. Participants included 119 fourth graders (67 boys and 52 girls), who had participated in Roadrunners since kindergarten. Near the end of the spring semester, students completed a 36-item questionnaire assessing their achievement goals and perceived motivational climate of Roadrunners. All items were modified from reliable and valid measures (TEOSQ; Duda & Nicholls, 1992; PMCSQ; Walling, Duda, & Chi, 1993). Responses to all items were on 5-point Likert scales. Students also completed a timed mile run test as a measure of performance in running. The number of laps the students ran/walked over the school year was used as a measure of persistence. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the interactions between the task-involved goal and perceptions of a task-involved climate emerged as the only significant predictor for both students’ persistence at Roadrunners (b = .28, p < 0.01) and their mile run test (b = -.37, p < 0.01; the negative sign reflecting the nature of the mile run test: less time means better performance) and accounted for 8% and 13% of the variance, respectively. The interaction effects indicated that students persisted longest at Roadrunners and performed best on the mile run test when they were high in task-involved goals combined with high perceptions of a task-involved climate. These results provide additional empirical support for the theoretical prediction that achievement goals and perceived motivational climate may interact to influence student achievement-related cognitions and behaviors. They also have implications for teaching. To maximize student motivation and learning in physical education, teachers should not only promote task-involved goals among students, but also create a task-involved climate in their classrooms. Suggested instructional practices and strategies might include: defining success in terms of mastering the task rather than in terms of outperforming others in the class, emphasizing learning process and participation, recognizing individual accomplishments, and evaluating students on mastery and skill development rather than on ability. Keyword(s): elementary education, physical activity