A10
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, July 5, 2017
WEDNESDAY
July 5, 2017
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Junior golfer Clyde Holliday, 10, chips the ball onto the
green Thursday at the John Day Golf Club. Instructor
Ron Lundbom, left, claps as Madelyn, Eliza and Max
Bailey and Riddick Hutchison look on. A total of 13 area
youth joined the weeklong golf camp this summer.
Area youth
golfers learn
the ropes
Friday scramble
caps golf camp
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Ron Lundbom is teaching
the lifelong love of golf to a
younger generation through
Grant County Junior Golf.
A golf scramble Friday
at the John Day Golf Club
capped the week-long golf
camp.
There were 13 boys and
girls from ages 7-14 partic-
ipating in the camp, with
some older Grant Union
golfers assisting with in-
struction.
“It’s been quite success-
ful,” said instructor Ron
Lundbom, who is the Grant
Union golf coach. “They’ve
picked it up. I hope the kids
have developed an interest
in golf.”
He teaches stance, grip,
etiquette, swing technique,
putting and chipping and
rules of the game during the
camp.
Grant Union assistant
coach Jeff Allen helped in-
struct the class, along with
Grant Union alumnus Na-
than Gehley and students
Duane and Devon Stokes
and Curtis Perry.
This was 8-year-old Sil-
vie Holliday’s third year
participating in the camp.
“I think that it’s really
fun to come here,” she said.
“I improved on my hitting a
lot. The coaches teach you
a lot, and I made a lot of
friends.”
She added, “My favorite
part is putting.”
Riddick Hutchison, 12,
said he likes the camp for
the opportunity to hang out
with friends, and he enjoys
the golf scramble.
Vincent Raschio, 9, who
attended the camp last year,
said he also likes the scram-
ble.
MAGONE TRAIL
SYSTEM GETS
UNDERWAY
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Brady Ineck, 9, and other
junior golfers work on
their swing at the driving
range Thursday at the
start of practice.
“I’ve learned a lot, and
the coaches are awesome,”
he said.
This was 14-year-old
Parker Manitsas’ fi rst time at
the camp, and Lundbom said
he’s been a quick learner.
“It’s a pretty fun sport,”
he said. “It’s not like a sport
that ends when you grad-
uate. This camp is a good
opportunity. You learn a lot
of good stuff about the sport
of golf.”
Lundbom said he is ded-
icating his weekly game to
the Wednesday junior golf
nights when any youth ages
8-18, or even up to 20, can
play a round at John Day
golf course at 5 p.m. each
week.
The cost is $15 a night
or $60 for a year-long junior
membership.
With the year-long mem-
bership, a parent can choose
to walk along with their
youth and watch or help
them, and not just on junior
golf night.
Lundbom said members
of the girls varsity golf team
were interested in keeping
their skills up over the sum-
mer.
“They want to practice
and just have fun,” Lund-
bom said.
BLAZING A TRAIL
By Rylan Boggs
Blue Mountain Eagle
R
oughly a dozen volunteers broke
ground on a new section of trail in
the Magone Lake area.
The few hundred feet of trail built in
late May is the beginning of a multi-use
trail system in the area and the culmina-
tion of years of collaboration between
the Eastern Oregon Trail Alliance and the
Forest Service.
“This is purpose built for mountain
biking, but we’re not precluding other
users such as hikers, runners and eques-
trian users,” EOTA board member Wade
Tait said.
Tait has over a decade of experience
building trails and began working with
the trail alliance and Forest Service on
this trail system in 2014.
“It’s hard to get excited about it when
it’s just in theory and on paper,” Tait said.
“But when people can come out and see
a new trail that looks like it’s going to
be fun, people will take some ownership
over it, and that’s what we need.”
When choosing routes for trails, Tait
said he and others from the trail alliance
tried to incorporate what he calls pos-
itive control points, such as views and
trailheads for ease of access. They aim to
avoid negative control points like sensi-
tive species’ nesting areas, weed patches
and some stream crossings. They plot
these on a topographical map and then
walk the area to pick the exact route of
the trail, marking it with fl ags.
When choosing the exact line, Tait
The Eagle/Rylan Boggs
Mytchell Mead tests out a new trail
near Magone Lake May 29.
said he looks for a slope grade of under
10 percent, natural rise and fall in the
landscape and interesting natural fea-
tures, such as views, water crossings or
rock gardens.
The trail system will be built to In-
ternational Mountain Bicycling Asso-
ciation standards and use the same trail
designations as skiing. Beginner runs
will be green circles, blue squares will be
intermediate and black diamonds will be
diffi cult. The more diffi cult trails could
have technical features like jumps, roll-
ers, wall rides and rock gardens where
the area allows. The easiest trails will be
built on closed roads.
The trail alliance is not involved in
closing roads and only utilizes roads al-
ready closed by the Forest Service, Tait
said.
The trails will be largely funded by
grants, which accept volunteer hours as
a match. Volunteers are covered under
the Forest Service’s volunteer liability
program.
Mytchell Mead, a trail alliance board
member, is optimistic about having as
much as 15 miles of trail rideable by the
end of summer, and a total of 26 miles of
trail eventually. Mead envisions creating
a trail system that will attract bikers from
across the country.
“Biking is the fastest growing recre-
ational activity in America right now,” he
said.
Mead has been working on mak-
ing the John Day area more appealing
to cyclists with projects such as this
trail system and a bike park at the Sev-
enth Street Complex. The 11-acre park
would include two pump tracks, several
boardwalk-style features and two miles
of trails. Mead aims to have a portion
of the park open before the eclipse in
August.
“Mountain bikers are oftentimes
called high-return, low-impact tourists,”
Mead said, explaining they have a posi-
tive impact on the local economy and a
small impact on the environment.
Efforts to promote mountain biking in
the area have been met with resistance,
but Mead said he is beginning to see a
shift in attitudes toward it.
“We’re embracing a broader range of
forest activities,” he said.
John Day swimmers excel at Prineville Invitational
Blue Mountain Eagle
Contributed photos/Erin Hodge
LEFT: John Day Swim Team’s Justin Hodge competes at last weekend’s Prineville Invitational. RIGHT: John Day Swim Team’s
Quentin Hallgarth holds the medal for boys 13-14 high-point swimmer, which he won at last weekend’s Prineville Invitational.
The John Day Swim Team
made a splash fi nishing third
at the Prineville Invitational.
The meet last weekend
was the fi rst of the season
for the local team, competing
with six other teams, includ-
ing fi rst-place Bend and sec-
ond-place Prineville.
A highlight from the event
was John Day’s Quinten Hall-
garth receiving the 13-14 boys
high-point award.
Head coach Sabrina How-
ard said she was pleased with
Hallgarth’s award and the
overall performance of the
team.
“This was a great way to
set the stage for the season,”
she said.
Hallgarth won the Boys
13-14 200 Short Course
Meter IM with a time of
3:04.48.
He placed second in the
following individual events:
200 SC Meter Freestyle, 100
SC Meter Freestyle, 200 SC
Meter Breaststroke, 200 SC
Meter Backstroke, 100 SC
Breaststroke and the 50 SC
Meter Freestyle.
John Day’s relay team
A, which included Hall-
garth, Russell Hodge, Grant
LeQuieu and Taylor Hunt,
placed second in the 200 SC
Meter Freestyle Relay, with a
time of 2:05.91.
They also placed second
in the 200 SC Meter Medley
Relay with a time of 2:31.06.
Full results for the John
Day Swim Team are listed at
myeaglenews.com.