Trail Improvements, Past and Future
Scouts work to repair catwalk, April 2008
If we’re going to ask for money to help improve the trails, we figure you probably want to know what kind of projects are involved. So this is a rundown of completed trail improvements and those we hope to assist with in the future.
Since the efforts to unify and improve the trails in six local parks began around 2002, there have been enormous changes. We hope to continue assisting local municipalities with respect to more, and hope we can raise funds to finance some of the future projects.
Since 2002 the following improvements have been made:
2005 – Volunteers cut a new trail into Saxon Woods from Old White Plains Road, thereby bringing an access point closer to the Leatherstocking Trail.
2006-7 -A new shoulder was built by the Town of Mamaroneck on Old White Plains Road to protect runners from cars as they traverse a short street stretch between Leatherstocking and the new trail cut into Saxon Woods.
2007 – 2008 – Two long catwalks/bridges that were destroyed in a 2007 April Nor’easter were re-built in 2008, better than before, by the Town of Mamaroneck.
Scouts blazing the Leatherstocking. Plastic markers and aluminum nails.
2007-2008 – New signs went up around the system linking six different parks (Leatherstocking, Saxon Woods, Hutch Trail, Ward Acres, Twin Lakes and Nature Study Woods), and trails were blazed by scouts into a massive figure-8.
2009 – A new boardwalk was built near West Drive on the Leatherstocking over a mud hole in the Mamaroneck section of the trail.
2009 -A section of trail in Twin Lakes running next to California Road in Eastchester was regraded with heavy machinery by County Parks due to poor drainage.
2010 – An Eagle Scout project widened the New Rochelle section of the Leatherstocking near Pinebrook Blvd. They cleared out invasive vegetation and pulled out old stumps blocking the trail.
2010 – A section of Leatherstocking was widened by the Town of Mamaroneck near Deerfield Lane.
2011 – A second catwalk was built by the Town of Mamaroneck near West Drive, completing a catwalk started in 2009.
Scouts clearing and widening Leatherstocking, New Rochelle, Summer 2010
Future Projects We Hope To See:
Repair and re-grade the deep gully on the Hutch Trail as it descends to Pinebrook Blvd.
Clean up the garbage on the Hutch Trail near the Lake Isle dam.
Get regular maintenance for Hutch Trail that becomes overgrown each summer.
Repair trail at two mud holes on Leatherstocking, one with a culvert and one with a catwalk (catwalk construction scheduled for summer, 2011, by Town of Mamaroneck – catwalk completed 2011)
Regrade trail junction mud hole in Saxon Woods, near the pool parking lot.
Improve drainage in numerous spots, with re-grading and culverts, in Nature Study Woods.
Place plantings along certain portions of the Hutch Trail to screen the trail from the Hutch Parkway.
Re-grade poor drainage area in Twin Lakes on trail next to the Hutch Parkway and at entrance to trail near Mill Road/Hutch intersection.
Improve the single-track access trail (built in 2005) that runs from Old White Plains Road into Saxon Woods.
To make an additional donation for trail improvements and maintenance, please click here. Donations are tax-deductible and will go into a dedicated trail maintenance account. You will get a receipt emailed to you and there is no processing fee from Active for the donation. If you prefer to donate by check, please make it payable to Sound Shore Runners Club and mail it to: Matt Lewis, c/o Colonial Greenway Trail Donations, 5 Intrepid Place, Jersey City, NJ 07305.
And you can read more about the history of the trail and creation of the race at this link.
Best Spectating Spot
For those that want to watch family and friends run a portion of the race, fear not, for even though the race goes through the woods we have a perfect spot for you to drive to. The race goes past the Saxon Woods pool and soccer field area at about the 6.2M mark. There is a huge parking lot there (and playground). This is your destination.
From the starting area, get on the Hutchinson River Parkway, northbound. There is an entrance to the parkway off of Webster Avenue.
Head north approximately five miles to Exit 23N, Mamaroneck Avenue.
When you come off the ramp, go right (north) about 1/4 mile.
Make a left at the light into the Saxon Woods pool parking lot.
When you enter the parking area, you will see a house at the back of the lot, a bit to your left. (The pool and playground are to your right.) The race comes down the hill out of the woods to the left of that house, crosses the driveway directly in front of it, and proceeds back up the hill to the right.
It couldn’t be any easier.
To return to New Rochelle make a right out of the lot, go .2 miles and get back on the Hutch southbound.
As you drive south to New Rochelle you will likely see racers on the trail to your right. Honk and scream.
Exit at Mill Road, New Rochelle (eastbound), Exit 18E. As you exit in the ramp, you will likely see police and volunteers as you are about to cross the race course at the 10 mile mark. Honk and scream again.
Follow Mill Road east (right) a hundred yards and bear right at the light onto North Avenue. Proceed down south on North Avenue about 1.35 miles and make a 45° right turn up onto Calton Road. You are near the start/finish. Now follow this map to the side streets near the finish and look for parking. We suggest you click to enlarge the map and print it out to take with you.
Find friends/spouses/parents/children and tell them they look great. Even if they don’t. Grab a smoothie sample.
You’re welcome.
Race Day Parking
If you are unfamiliar with the start/finish area, then read carefully for the places you can park and the places you can’t park.
There is a map below, which you can click for a larger, printer friendly version:
- There is one High School lot directly across from the start, behind the tennis courts;
- There is a second, much larger, High School lot behind the school, off Clove Road. A foot path from the lot passes directly in front of the school and will take you around to toward the start;
- You can park on many of the local streets as indicated on the map below, both near the start or near the finish;
- But you can not park on Broadview!! (start of the race) or Flandreau (finish). Unless you want to be tarred and feathered and ridden out of town on a rail. These are colonial era punishments that we favor for those that try to clog the race course with cars.
Look at the map! Click on it! Then click it again to make it even bigger! Print it and take it with you if you are not familiar with this area! (Please?)
Public Transit from New York City
If you are coming up by train from NYC (or by bus into New Rochelle’s bus depot), getting to the start of the race on time is easy. The start is just 1.5 miles north of the train station and bus depot. This is also the Amtrak station.
By Train: Take the 7:37 Metro North train out of Grand Central (New Haven line) to New Rochelle, which will arrive at 8:08. From there you can catch a taxi to the start for about $7. (Destination: North Avenue and Broadview) Look for other runners to share a cab with, as we had a healthy contingent last year from Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens coming in by train.
To find the taxi stands at the station: Go up the stairs to the bridge in the middle of the platform. One taxi stand will be to your left. You can find a second one if you cross the bridge, go down the stairs and through the station house.
The awards ceremony will start about 11:30. Return trains are at 11:33, 12:33, and 1:33
Taxi services to get back to the station:
Blue Bird Taxi (914) 632-0909
Union Taxi (914) 576-1600
Red Fox Taxi (914) 636-6006
United Taxi Company (914) 632-6888
By Bus: Buses use the same depot as the train station, so getting to/from the station/race is the same. Schedules are too varied to put here, of course, as they depend on where you are coming from.
Chip Timing Is Here (And directions on its use for 2011)
The 2011 event will introduce chip timing to this race. (The specific details of how to use it are below.) This upgrade was necessary because of the huge demand for the event coupled with the limited capacity of the trail itself. We sold out last year on August 31st, over a month before the race went off.
The chips will allow us to start runners in two waves, to alleviate concerns over trail crowding. If you have too many runners at the same pace hitting the same narrow parts of the trail at the same time, it spoils much of the fun of racing through the woods.
We believe, based on our past experience, trail improvements last year by a local scout troop, and mathematical analysis, that the trail can handle a start field of 400. So we are targeting a maximum field of 750, with a two-wave start.
Runners will not be seeded in the waves based solely on time. Because that would defeat the purpose of starting in waves. Putting all the 8-10 minute milers into one group, for example, would result in the same bulge of runners hitting the narrow parts of the trail together.
So the real speedsters will start in the first wave, since the overall 1-2-3 awards are based on crossing the finish line first (age group awards are by chip-timing). And the most casual of our runners will be in the second wave. But the bulk of the runners will be evenly distributed between the waves. This means that there will be some runners in Wave Two that are faster than Wave One, but not a lot faster. The idea is that, while some in Wave Two will overtake some in Wave One, it won’t start to happen until the first field has spread out a bit over the first four miles or so.
The chips, provided by Super Race Systems, will be embedded in the bibs themselves to alleviate concerns over catching a shoe-based D-ring in a branch or a Championchip that gets mud-covered.
Both the start and finish areas can easily accommodate the increased crowds that we anticipate. And there should be ample parking in two lots and on the side streets, as you can see on our parking plan.
The ultimate objective is to give runners the same “small race” feel that we have had in the past, but allow more people to do it. We had great reviews last year, and we intend to get them again.
Below are some important instructions to follow in order to ensure your chip “reads” and you get an accurate time.:
- The timing device for this year’s race is the ChronoTrack B-tag.
- The timing “chip” is on your bib number.
- The race bib must be clearly visible on the FRONT of the torso
- The race bib is unaltered and unmodified (Do not fold or wrinkle or you risk breaking the chip)
- Race bib is pinned in all four corners
- Race bib is not covered (jackets, runner belts, water bottles, etc.)
Click this link to view the instructions for the B-tag.
The B-tag is a single-use bib tag. You do not need to turn it in after you finish.