ON COURSE

MAT-SU — When Palmer High School was selected to host the state cross-country finals three years ago an idea was sparked of what the Michael Janecek Trail could be.

What started as a vision years ago to renovate the trail has finally come to fruition.

“Well, it all started some time back,” said Katie Mangelsdorf. “My son was a freshmen running on the cross-country team and we had an idea of fixing the trail, improving it in some spots and widening it in others, but we had some trouble getting going and in the first year the project sort of stalled.”

Mangelsdorf was instrumental in the trail’s renovations in multiple ways. She was responsible for securing the largest contribution in the trail’s improvement, a $33,000 grant from the Mat-Su Health Foundation, and spent countless summer days clearing, cutting, digging and designing the new trail.

Mangelsdorf is quick to thank all the volunteers who were involved in the project and credit them for the trail’s completion.

“Oh, this was a total community project,” she said. “So many people came out to help, and without them we could never have done this. … People seemed to love working on the trail, we were just like family when working on it out there laughing and having a good time. And it is nice to see the rewards of our hard work.”

That hard work in improving the existing trail was a task that included clearing trees, removing debris, pulling stumps, widening the track, making a new hill, leveling the whole trail and installing a protective fence around the trail, Mangelsdorf said.

“We had volunteers come out from everywhere, and when I started I did not know anything about building a trail,” she said. “But I believe when there is a right idea, there is way to accomplish it and people who knew how to help just came out and volunteered at every step of the way.”

Mangelsdorf said this was especially true for bringing in and operating heavy machinery that was crucial to the trial’s improvements.

“We would be out in the town and just run into people and get to talking about the trail and they would say, ‘I have a back hoe so let me know if I can help,’” she said.

But for all the hard work put in by volunteers from around the community, many of them feel that Mangelsdorf was the driving force behind the new and improved trail.

“I can honestly say that Katie put in thousands of hours in working, planning and implementation of the trail, and all the hard work comes back to Katie. She had a vision for the trail and now it’s something that exudes excellence,” said Darin Markwardt, the cross-country ski coach for Palmer High School.

And for all her work the school now has a first-class trail for cross-country running, the track tea, and cross-country skiing that is open for the public to use as well.

“It is a quality spot for kids to train and practice,” Markwardt said. “And we can do more specific training and more options in our training as well. Plus, it is nice because it is at home and we do not have to travel to train. The kids love to be able to ski on our trail, both parents and kids take ownership in the trail and the kids take pride in that.”

Contact Lanier Hutcheson at lanier.hutcheson@frontiersman.com or 352-2265.