Above: Cross Country is back at Trottier this fall — but it will look a little different. (image of flyer)
Southborough Recreation has announced that registration will open tomorrow — Friday, September 13th — for a Trottier Running Club.
The offering is a revamped replacement for the popular Trottier Cross Country program that Rec had offered for decades.
The new program will be held for one hour after school on Tuesday’s and Thursdays (instead of three days per week), with hour long practices (instead of 90 minutes).
Note: Late buses won’t be available as initially expected. The school notified Rec that there is a driver shortage.
Rec announced:
The Running Club will maintain the spirit of the Cross Country program while focusing on personal growth, teamwork, and fostering a love for running. It will also include opportunities for students to participate in competitive meets and community events.
The registration page promotes that students will:
- Enjoy the outdoors while learning the fundamentals of competitive running
- Typically run two mile routes
- Set and achieve goals, improve their skills, and build endurance”.
While the season is kicking off one week later than usual this fall, but will run two weeks longer, finishing up in mid-November (instead of late October).
The later end date should mean students are still in good condition for taking on the annual 5K Thanksgiving Day Gobble Wobble. Members’ entry fee will be covered by their Running Club registration fee. (Joining the club costs $150 per student.)
There are fewer meets scheduled for the club than in previous years of Cross Country. But Rec is still working to see if they can schedule at least one more. (They are hopeful that they will be able to finalize scheduling one with Fay School, bringing it back up to four meets — the number offered in recent years.)
Rec warns that, as in the past, they will only able to provide “limited transportation” to the local meets “on a first come, first serve basis by email request”, and parents will need to pick kids up from the meet. (No transportation is available for those who compete in the state meet.)
For more details and to register, click here.
So, why the changes?
This year, Rec didn’t advertise a program for early fall as they usually do. Unsurprisingly, they heard an “overwhelming” community demand from families.
At the Recreation Commission’s August 22nd meeting, new Rec Director Travis Farley explained that in recent years, the coaches hadn’t coordinated much of the administrative work involved in running the program. Due to staffing changes the department wasn’t able to continue shouldering that burden.
It was noted that Cross Country and Track & Field are the only Trottier sports programs that are run by Rec instead of NSBORO Schools. (It was clear that commissioners wished that would change in the future.)
Commissioners discussed the importance of the program for student athletes that aren’t into team sports and as a feeder to the high school program. They recommended advertising for a coach and reaching out to the community for support to find a way to continue offering the program.
I asked Program Coordinator Christina McCarthy about what happened next and the future of Cross Country and Track & Field. She explained that to offer the new Running Club, they are working this fall with one of the runners’ parents who has coaching experience.
As for Track & Field, she wrote:
We are working closely with the Algonquin Athletic Director who has taken ownership of Melican and Trottier team sports, with the hope of them taking over track and field next year. We will be posting the open coaching position(s) in hopes of getting one or more coaches for the spring 2025 T&F season.
Updated (9/13/24 3:42 pm): At Rec’s request, I corrected a typo on the date and better clarified a few details. And I corrected that the program hadn’t been starting in early September in recent years.
Finally, Rec learned that Late Buses aren’t available at this time due to a staffing shortage at NRT, the district’s transportation provider.
