The Friends of Van Cortlandt Park are hosting their first Hike-a-Thon on Saturday May 1, to help implement the newly completed Trails Plan and to introduce more people to the park’s extensive network of hiking and walking paths.
“We are always happy to see people in the Park,” said Christina Taylor, executive director of FVCP. “We’re even more excited when an event like this can introduce New Yorkers to the fact that they can go hiking right here at the end of the 1 and 4 trains.”
Like a Walk-a-Thon, Hike-a-Thon participants will sign up supporters to sponsor their hike. All participants who register and raise at least $25 will receive a Friends t-shirt.
The first 100 participants to register and who raise at least $50 for children (under 18), $100 for adults will receive a goody bag. Prizes will also be available to individuals who raise the most pledges. Participants will be able to choose from two paths—a family-friendly one-mile loop on the John Kieran Trail or a more exhilarating 3 to 4 mile excursion into the outer reaches of the Park. Crafts, games and good company will also be on hand. Registration deadline is Wednesday, April 14.
All of the funding raised by participants will be used to help implement the FVCP’s Trails Plan. In the late fall of 2008, the Friends of Van Cortlandt Park, with the generous support of the Booth Ferris Foundation, hired the New York-New Jersey Trails Conference to complete a strategic plan aimed at making the park’s hiking trails more sustainable, better suited to serving park visitors, and better able to highlight and protect the park’s unique natural resources.
To date the Hike-a-Thon has received generous sponsorship from C-Town Supermarket-Van Cortlandt, Organic Valley New England, Columbia Florist, Inc., Steven K. Schwabe, D.D.S. and Natal Auto Repairs.
For a complete list of donated prizes, a trails map, and registration forms please visit the Friends’ web site at www.vancortlandt.org/hike-a-thon.html.
For further information, contact Christina Taylor of the Friends of Van Cortlandt Park at (718) 601-1460 or email christina@vancortlandt.org.
