HOULTON, Maine — The Greater Houlton track & field team traded in the usual practice routine for a community service effort, continuing an annual tradition known as the “Trash Olympics”. Now in the fourth consecutive year, the event brings track athletes together for a friendly intrasquad competition focused on cleaning and improving shared community spaces.
Teams of four to five athletes spread out across the Houlton High School, RSU 29 Bird Farm, Region Two School of Applied Technology and Houlton Community Park campuses. By the end of the event, students had collected an impressive 783 pounds of trash, waste and debris, setting a new record for the event. These materials, many of which would have taken years to decompose, were removed from areas regularly enjoyed by schools, programs and the community at large.
This event reinforces core values of the track & field program, including community service, volunteerism and environmental stewardship. This year’s competition was especially close, with just four pounds separating the top three teams.
In fifth place was the team of Kaley Whitman, Faith Schools, Greta Kenney and Dalylah Mincey with 41 pounds collected. Fourth place went to Malachi Witmer, Isaac Watson, Mark Cyr, Brayden Drake and Sandra Quinlan with 72.7 pounds. In third place, Andrea Ross, April Mazur, Isabella McCarthy, Hannah Kowalski and Shiloh Richardson collected 221.5 pounds. Second-place finishers Nathan Brady, Dalayna Mincey, Victor Burlock and Alex Santiago brought in 222.4 pounds.
Taking first-place honors were James Brady, Micah Gilmour, Wyatt Quint, Jackson Adams and Macy Gilman, whose team collected an outstanding 225.4 pounds of waste.
Over the past four years, the Greater Houlton Track & Field program has removed a combined total of 1,633 pounds of waste from those local areas.
“We are incredibly proud of our student-athletes,” said coach Chris Rines. “Their willingness to give back to our shared spaces so that all users can benefit and take pride in their environment speaks volumes about their character.”
