THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 26, 1994 TAG: 9408240152
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines
BEFORE READING any further, take this quiz:
1. Do you like parks, open green spaces and trails?
2. Would you like to be on a team with a Chesapeake City Council person as honorary captain?
3. Do you like to walk or run or jump outdoors, just for fun?
4. If you own a horse would you like to put him or her through some easy, fun stunts?
5. Are you a disabled person or the parent of a special child who would like to participate in some fun events?
6. Are you an active senior citizen who enjoys life?
If the answer to any these questions is yes, then you should sign up as soon as possible for the sixth annual Chesapeake Trail-A-Thon event taking place Sept. 17 at Chesapeake City Park in tandem with the annual Great Bridge Jaycees' Chesapeake Fall Fest.
One would think a fun outing like this would have no trouble attracting participants. But according to Walter Brown, recreation specialist with Chesapeake Parks and Recreation Department, sometimes organizers have trouble gathering enough people to make up nine full teams.
The event was born six years ago by the Chesapeake Parks and Recreation Advisory Board as a way to make people aware of the need for parks, trails and open spaces, Brown said.
Each year the board has sponsored these easy, entertaining competitions in several different event categories with members of the Chesapeake City Council as honorary captains. Each year the teams barely get enough participants.
Maybe people think the events are very challenging, Olympic style contests. Not so, Brown said. There are no marathon races or Herculean tests of strength or agility, just a sense of fun and desire to engage in some spirited events.
``These are just easy athletic events usually found in a park setting,'' Brown said. ``And since we make our parks, trails and outdoor settings accessible to handicapped or physically disabled people, we want them to participate and have fun, too.''
Brown is hoping people will volunteer for the event. All they need to do is pick up an application/entry form at any of the Chesapeake Parks and Recreation community centers, fill it out and hand it in. Later, participants will be paired off by event to one of nine teams led by a City Council member.
One contest that usually lags behind in participation is the horse event, Brown said.
``The trouble is, you need to bring your own horse,'' he said. ``We don't supply them. We're looking for nine riders, and all they have to do is do some pretty simple things. There won't be any tough rodeo events, just things you'd do with a horse in a park like backing the horse through a gate, dismounting and other simple stunts.''
Brown also said the therapeutic category - for specially abled people - sometimes lags in participation.
``Some people think it means just those in wheelchairs,'' he said. ``And that's not it at all. We want to include any and all people who would be in therapeutic events or programs. It's open to all.''
Rounding out the categories are senior citizens, ages 55 and older, and young people, from pre-teens to teenagers.
The teens would participate in several fun obstacle courses featuring such events as crawling through a tunnel, climbing over a rope fence, walking on a grounded balance beam, jumping over gym mats and other fun stunts.
He said each team will get at least one participant in each of the five categories (i.e. one horseback rider, one therapeutic participant, one senior citizen, etc.) All participants will compete against others in his or her particular category event to win points. First place is 100 points, second is 90 and so on.
The team with the most points wins a gold medal, second gets silver, third bronze and all others get participation medals.
Last year's roster featured Allen's Aces, Butt's Clippers (last year's overall winners), Duda's Dynamos, Dwyer's Daredevils, Krasnoff's Happy Kampers, Nance's Nobles, Simmons' Sunbeams, Spruill's Lions and Ward's Dodgers.
Brown said the competition will feature some brief opening remarks followed by (in order) the horse event, the seniors, the therapeutic event and the two teen competitions.
``Oh, man, they'll have a good time,'' Brown said. ``The events aren't hard, just fun and everyone gets a free breakfast, a free T-shirt and a medal. All we want to do is make sure everyone who participates has fun so we can focus on the joys of Chesapeake's parks, trails and open spaces.'' ILLUSTRATION: HAPPY TRAILS
WHAT: The sixth annual Chesapeake Trail-A-Thon
WHEN: Sept. 17., 9 a.m.-noon
WHERE: Chesapeake City Park, Greenbrier Parkway
WHY: To make people aware of the need for parks, trails and open
spaces
TO ENTER: Pick up an entry form at any of the city's six
community centers by Sept. 1. Free, no entry fee. More information
is available by calling Walter Brown at 436-8441.
by CNB