THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 23, 1994 TAG: 9409210160
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 22 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Sixth Annual Chesapeake Trail-A-Thon
SOURCE: BY XIAOHONG ZHANG SWAIN, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
The Sixth Annual Chesapeake Trail-A-Thon finished last Saturday to the cheers of enthusiastic competitors and organizers.
The event, sponsored by the Chesapeake Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and the Parks and Recreation Department, promotes public awareness of the city's need for more parks, trails and open spaces.
Event categories were a horseback riding obstacle course, senior one-mile walk, therapeutic obstacle course for the handicapped, and a running obstacle course.
Competitors were randomly assigned to nine teams, which were titled with the last names of nine honorary captains - members of the city council.
The Trail-A-Thon ``dream teams'' were Allen's Aces, Butt's Clippers, Duda's Dynamos, Dwyer's Dare Devils, J.D.'s Gems, Krasnoff's Happy Kampers, Nance's Nobles, Newman's Knickerbockers and Ward's Dodgers.
Duda's Dynamos and Nance's Nobles tied for first place with a score of 360 out of 500 possible points.
In the individual events, the top three finishers were:
Horseback Riding Obstacle Course: Donna Vance, Deanne Golding and Beverly Sizemore.
Senior One-Mile Walk: Craig Sykes, Earl Wicks and Norman Hedrick.
Therapeutic Obstacle: Robert Thomas, Christopher Martin and Orrick Toliver.
Running Obstacle Course for 12 and over: Michea Westbrook, Bobby Davis and Scott Hepburn.
Running Obstacle Course for 11 and under: Dusty Hummer, Bhrett Sherill and P.J. Rojas.
Thomas, a resident of Norfolk, made a special preparation for his fourth appearance at the Trail-A-Thon - he purchased a crown-like, blue velvet hat with large diamond-shaped ornaments.
``I bought the hat because I am the king (of this event),'' said Thomas from his wheelchair. Fresh off the obstacle course with a satisfying time, Thomas never doubted he would be the winner. After all, he had been the past three years.
And Thomas didn't let people forget that. He wore three dark silver-colored first-place medals from Trail-A-Thon, plus two gold ones he earned at the 1994 Special Olympics in Richmond.
The horseback riding obstacle event was a challenging show of horsemanship. The most difficult part for most riders was backing the horse through an L-shaped course. Riders also competed in hoop dropping - maneuvering the horses in a figure eight pattern around two stacks of bailed straw, while preventing their horses from sampling the apples on top of the stacks.
Twelve-year-old Katie Sanders of Great Bridge was the youngest rider. Although she had trouble ushering Jessie successfully through the L course, she didn't seem to be daunted by the challenge.
``It was fun,'' she said. ``The other parts were easy.''
Councilman Pete Duda's daughter Michelle, 17, was the next youngest rider at the competition. Having won a second and a third place from Trail-A-Thon before, Michelle was disappointed that she didn't do well this year.
``I was kind of hoping to improve myself,'' she said. ``There are a lot of good riders this year.''
As the horse riding was underway, Shirley Yancey led a group of three senior walkers on the one-mile trail. Also a return Trail-A-Thon competitor, Yancey, 58, from Indian River, said she loves to be outdoors.
``I love activities,'' she said with a smile. ``It just lifts your spirit.''
Earl Wicks, 64, of Deep Creek, considers the Trail-A-Thon walk part of his exercise habit.
``It's just another thing for you to stay in shape,'' said Wicks, who has competed in The Golden Olympics in Williamsburg.
Many of the participants in the running obstacle course came from the Youth Center of Northwest Naval Security Group Activity installation.
``We're going to come back every year,'' said Vicki Cody, the center's director. ``We like to take the kids off the base.''
Michea Westbrook, 14, took first place in his age group, but thinks he was lucky this year because last year ``there were faster people''.
Walter Brown, who supervised Trail-A-Thon, regrets that few spectators showed up. But he hopes the program will attract a larger crowd in the future.
``Maybe we need to do more traditional events,'' he said. ``Such as ball games.
``We'll have an evaluation of this year's event and get input from the participants.''
Brown was well-satisfied, however, with the number of competitors.
``We actually had to turn away some additional people,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Photos by PETER D. SUNDBERG
Katie Sanders, 12, was the youngest competitor in the horseback
riding obstacle course.
Judy Kelly helps Orrick Toliver, who placed third in the therapeutic
obstacle category at the Sixth Annual Chesapeake Trail-A-Thon.
by CNB