News & Stories

Explore the Trails Potluck Recap

After trail running or mountain biking through Theodore Wirth Park as part of the Mountain Bike Series and the Explore the Trails member event, adults and kids alike enjoyed hot dogs, watermelon, summer salads and lemonade on a beautiful summer night.

While Jake Morgan manned the grill, serving up hot dogs for attendees of the inaugural Explore the Trails Potluck, participants of the Age-Gap Relays gushed about how much fun they had. Dan Grabow who participated with his son Charlie, 12, remarked to Advancement Director Kristen Spargo that the relay was “LOTS of fun,” a sentiment shared by everyone Kristen encountered who had participated in the race. Kevin Delozier and his son Ryan, 12, also had a great time and look forward to participating in more Loppet events in the future.

While most of the Age-Gap relay pairs were parent-child partners, there were several Loppet members or coaches who participated with Loppet youth. Alisa Reckinger competed with Nayeli Hernandez, who is a member of the Nellie Stone Johnson Ski & Bike Team; Allie Rykken who coaches the Anwatin team participated with her team member, Leslie Vang; and Andrew Magill, one of the Nellie Stone Johnson coaches, competed with one of the NSJ kids as well. They all looked energized as they chatted with other potluck attendees, swapping stories of their adventures.

Many other members of the Nellie Stone Johnson, Anwatin and Northeast middle school teams also enjoyed the potluck after the Mountain Bike Series, chatting away with each other and with Loppet staff and members.

Overall, the Explore the Trails Potluck was a nicely timed and well attended affair, particularly for the first time the event was held. Normally, member events take place on Saturdays, often the third Saturday of the month.

But given the Mountain Bike Series Age-Gap Relay and the mountain bike club’s Wednesday night session, the Loppet Foundation member event planners – Joanne Guillery, Anthony Taylor and Kristen Spargo – decided it might be fun to change it up and have the event in conjunction with existing activities. Organizers and participants alike agree it was a great call as it was an enjoyable way to spend a summer evening.