All-weather track officially open to the public Saturday

Douglas High teacher and cross country coach Keith Cole has talked many times over the last seven years about taking that first "victory" lap on an all-weather track at the high school.

This weekend, the Carson Valley community will be invited to take the "first" ceremonial lap.

The high school will host an open house at the Big George Sports Complex Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to introduce the general public to the facility. A grand opening ceremony to recognize the major donors to the project, which came in at a total price tag of $2.75 million, will be at 11 a.m.

While it may seem a little anticlimactic, since the football and soccer teams have already played a full season on the new artificial turf and a total of five meets have already been hosted on the new track, this will be the general public's first chance to give the new facility a spin.

"Our goal from the beginning has been to have a facility that will be both beneficial to the kids and open to the community to come down and do their running," said Cole, who spearheaded the fundraising effort for the track. "Saturday, we'll be talking about the expectations that we'll have for this facility.

"We hope the public will help us maintain the facility. We spent a lot of money and a lot of man hours to make this thing happen. We hope it will become something the community will be proud of, something they want to protect."

Starting Saturday, the track will be open to the public from sunrise to sunset on weekdays and from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Saturdays. The gates will be closed on Sundays.

"We want to have it where you are able to come down and run on the track as much as possible," Douglas High principal Marty Swisher said. "As long as there are no problems, we aren't going to have any problems with people coming out and using the track during school hours."

Douglas High classes, events and activities will get the priority for the complex.

There will also be a strict set of rules the high school will employ (see breakout box).

"It's going to be a process of educating people what can and can't be out there," Cole said. "This facility will only last as long as it is being taken care of. The community has as much stake in taking care of this thing as we do. If you're going to come out and use it, we want you to take care of it and respect it."

While the track has always been the goal of the fundraising effort, an surprise donation of $2 million from Big George Ventures in 2006 opened up the possibility of installing artificial turf in the sports complex.

The track will be open to the public as planned, but due to the amount of substances not allowed on the turf, people will be asked not to use the field.

"One of the most satisfying things is that this facility benefits kids from a wide variety of our athletic programs," Swisher said. "We have soccer games, football games, track meets. Hundreds of kids will benefit from this every year. It really is a top-notch facility."

The project saw it's share of delays over the last two-and-a-half years, but a perimeter fence currently being installed will put the finishing touches on the complex.

"There were times when we were wondering if we'd every get this thing finished," Cole said. "For me, looking at the finished product kind of makes all those struggles, concerns and hoops we had to jump through go away."

"Seeing that Big George Invitational this spring with a thousand kids competing out there, that was a very cool experience."

As much as Saturday's open house will be about educating the community, it will

also be about recognizing the people that made the project happen.

"We're going to be recognizing all the major donors to this project during the grand opening," Cole said. "But there is a segment of people that really got this thing started with $100 and $150 donations and they are going to be included on the welcome wall we're building.

"We want people to come out and see what their money paid for. The $100 donations helped us put together about $120,000 over the years. Without that, the school district never would have kicked in $300,000 and we wouldn't have had the $2 million from Big George."

The welcome wall, along with a pair of walls of fame for the track and football programs were built this spring with help from the high school's Block D Club and advisor Ernie Monfilleto.

Local contractors Mark Duree and Ray VanWinkle were major labor donors for the walls.

"We just want people to come down on Saturday and see what $2.75 million looks like," Cole said. "It is a fantastic facility and it is a credit to this community for stepping up and getting this thing done. We have a venue here now that will be hosting major sporting events for many years to come."