DATE: Saturday, July 26, 1997               TAG: 9707250089

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY STEPHEN KIEHL, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   64 lines

HOW WE RANK: THERE ARE SOME AREAS IN WHICH WE ARE AMONG THE LEADERS

IF YOU'RE overweight; you want to spill your guts on the tallest, fastest and most inverted roller coaster in the world; and then go home to a ``hot little boom town,'' then this is the area for you.

Some publications take mountains of statistics about everything from crime to climate to rank cities, but others take a more specific tack. Chances are, if you want to find the best place for anything, there's a list that can tell you where to go.

If you're fat, you're in good company in Hampton Roads. In a well-publicized survey released in March, the Coalition for Excess Weight Risk Education named the area the second-fattest in the country, with 33.9 percent of its residents overweight.

Does this mean the area will become a haven for fat people, seeking to be with those of their own kind? Local officials declined to comment, but Norfolk Mayor Paul D. Fraim admitted there is a ``comfortable style of living here.''

In June, Norfolk came in at No. 126 of 238 sports cities ranked by The Sporting News. Williamsburg was No. 156 and Hampton No. 230. Any possible correlation between being fat and not a good sports city has not been identified.

At Busch Gardens in Williamsburg officials are thrilled that the new roller coaster Alpengeist was named the best in America by People magazine this month.

``That ride has done great things for us this year,'' a Busch Gardens spokeswoman said. ``And that People magazine article is going to do even greater things.''

Money magazine has named Smithfield and surrounding Isle of Wight County as one of the 50 ``hottest little boom towns'' in the country. The magazine described the area as ``a bedroom community in the sticks'' and praised it for its cultural attractions and the old-time atmosphere of downtown Smithfield.

When ranking beaches, Virginia Beach scores well in some areas but not overall because it is so crowded, said University of Maryland professor Stephen Leatherman.

A beach expert, Leatherman ranked the top five in the Mid-Atlantic area for the May issue of Washingtonian magazine. The only beach in Virginia to make the list was Chincoteague, but Leatherman rated Virginia Beach one of the top three for fewest bugs and best boardwalk.

The staff rated Virginia Beach the best for rainy-day amusements and third for golf.

Hampton Roads gets reasonably high marks for public transportation. A national report released this month ranked the area 36th out of 190 regions for easing congestion with transit.

And then there are those lists that don't include Hampton Roads. The area doesn't turn up on Worth magazine's list of the wealthiest American cities, nor does it make an appearance on American Health's list of the 10 healthiest cities for women.

Still, from Williamsburg to the shore, the lists attest that Hampton Roads isn't such a bad place to be. Especially if you're overweight. MEMO: [For related stories, see page E1 and E7 of THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

for this date.] ILLUSTRATION: BUSCH GARDENS

People magazine ranked Busch Gardens' new roller coaster Alpengeist

the best in America. The distinction adds to Hampton Roads' efforts

to be known as a top recreational area. KEYWORDS: RATING LIST RANKING PLACES RATED

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