With spring just around the corner and the Boothbay Region High School’s track and field season starting soon, the Community Track Fundraising Board has been meeting again to discuss building a large, 8-lane track for both the Seahawks team and the community.

The proposed track would be regulation-sized and would be located behind the elementary school, with jumping pits and possibly a new football field in the center. It would have ample room for spectators and would be handicapped accessible.

The track would be owned by the community, and the school would have the responsibility of maintaining it. It would be free to all members of the community to use when practice or games were not taking place.

It would be a safe place to practice,” said BRHS junior and track team member Jude Alamo. “Right now the triple and long jumpers are practicing in the high school hallways with mats, and the distance runners are out on the road. It’s not safe.”

The track would also allow the Seahawks to host home track meets, and allow the team to practice with hurdles before matches; as of right now, the school has none. The board also discussed the possibility of hosting a Special Olympics in the future.

For the past three year years, the group has run the Lobster Roll 5K road race, which has net the group a little over $9,000 in funds for the track. The total costs of building the track and equipment needed have been estimated at around $750,000, so the Board of Directors is preparing to reach out to the community for help.

Some ideas the group came up with were having donors buy equipment (buy a hurdle for $30, for example), or having donor’s names put on a plaque. The board hopes to have the track built by the spring of 2014.

“Donations often go to places that make people feel healthier,” Dr. Alamo said. “Places that make people feel healthy and happy, like the YMCA or the botanical gardens. We hope this track will be like that.”

The Community Track group is part of the Boothbay Region Education Foundation, which is a 501(c) (3) group, so any donations made will be tax-deductible. To make a contribution to the track fund or for more information about the Community Track group, contact Laura Bosio at laura1@gwi.net/.

Katrina Clark can be reached at 207-633-4620 or katrinaclark@boothbayregister.com. Follow her on Twitter: @BBRegisterClark or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BBRegisterKatrinaClark.