By Staff
CASSOPOLIS – Cass County's Dr. T. K. Lawless Park has many fun-type activities, and one more might be added this spring.
Parks Director Scott Wyman announced a Sand Hill Crane half-marathon, meaning half the distance, is being considered for a 6.6- mile run.
Wyman made the announcement Thursday at the Cass County Parks Department meeting and said it is strongly being looked at by Ronald Gunn, director of extreme sports at Southwestern Michigan College in Dowagiac.
He said the park is being considered because of its hilly and wooded terrain and that is what Gunn is looking for. Gunn also does training at Lawless Park.
He said he uses the Grand Canyon in Arizona for some of his marathon training and is looking for a rugged terrain for this run.
It will be a money maker for the parks department, Wyman said. There will be an admission to participate in the run which is scheduled at 9 a.m. on Sept. 13. It will be the first annual half marathon which will be 10 kilometers.
Wyman said participants can walk it if they don't care to run and are encouraged to attend.
There will be awards, T shirts and prizes. He said cost to enter is $20 per person.
Wyman said the first Saturday night tubing at the Lawless Park hill on Feb. 2 was perfect weather with lots of snow. There were about 100 people sledding. He said he ran out of tubes and will buy more. He said the trails were lighted and groomed for cross-country skiing with several people skiing.
Pertaining to the proposed rails to trails project along the old Airline Railroad bed east of Cassopolis, he said he identified the landowners. The next step is to approach the landowners.
The proposed trail is between Decatur Road east of Cassopolis to the Village of Vandalia on the right-of-way on the south side of M-60.
In other matters, at the recommendation of Wyman, the board approved to renew 100 acres of crop land at Lawless Park to Joe Young for 2008-09.
Young is the farm owner adjacent to the park on Monkey Run Road. The offer was $120 an acre.