The Bonac Bolts youth track program is back. After a year’s hiatus, the club will return to the East Hampton High School track on Sundays from 1 to 2 p.m., from March 29 until the May Day 5K on May 3, except Easter Sunday (April 5).
Liam Fowkes and Dylan Cashin started the track club three years ago to encourage younger runners, from second through sixth grade, to do something good for their bodies and minds. After they graduated, there was no one to lead the group last year, but this spring Chase Bohnsack, a freshman, and Jasper Samuelson, a sophomore, are taking over.
“It’s good for the kids, and it’s great for everyone to get out on a Sunday,” Bohnsack said. “We’ll do some short distances for sprinting. It will be fun to race with them.”
Jennifer Fowkes of the Old Montauk Athletic Club (and Liam’s mother), who also organizes the May Day 5K is thrilled to see the Bolts come back this year. “It is such a great program and is so great for the community. It’s free and it’s easy and it’s fun,” she said. “I’m so grateful to the school for letting us use the fields.”
Sign-up is at the track on Sundays, and kids can take part in all or only some of the Sunday sessions. “Show up when you can. Parents do have to fill out a waiver, but just once,” Fowkes said.
While Fowkes is happy to organize the program and help out, she’s letting the teens take charge. “It’s really a youth-led thing. The kids are the ones who come up with the workouts and lead them at the track.”
Samuelson hopes to teach the younger runners some of the key drills that he and Bohnsack practice regularly on the track team — like A and B skips — but he promises the workouts won’t be too intense.
“We’ll try our best. You can’t think about it as a sport. You have to think of it as a fun activity,” he said. “I’m excited to give back to OMAC especially, with everything they’ve done for cross-country and track.”
