Dragon Fitness Trail has been a marathon effort

By Irene Bowers
Correspondent

VIRGINIA BEACH

There is a dragon tale to be told about Luxford Elementary's Dragon Fitness Trail, scheduled to be built in the summer of 2008.

Designed and named for the school mascot, the Dragon Fitness Trail will provide a running and walking route around the the grounds behind the Haygood Road facility. The trail will be open to the public after school hours.

"This is a phenomenal project," said principal Joanne D'Agostino. "Fitness at Luxford will reach a new level."

Following the success of the school's first Dragon Run in 2006, the PTA looked into building a permanent fitness trail.

Initial estimates were low, and with the donation of aggregate base by Vulcan Materials Corp. and a $5,000 Toolbox for Education grant from Lowe's, group members thought they were on track.

Subsequent research showed that the trail would cost an estimated $150,000, which was a much larger project.

"That was a whole lot more than a year or two of fundraising, but it made us dig in our heels," said Julie Voliva, past PTA president. "I remember telling Tracie Rieger, the new PTA president, that I would take half the yellow pages and she could take the other half. We were determined to get this trail built."

Enter LandMark Design Group Inc. After a call from Reiger, the company agreed to handle the site plan development for free.

"We do one pro bono project a year," said Kim Rivers, marketing manager for the business. "It's a great way to stay involved in the community."

"When Mark Strickland and LandMark Design Group stepped in, the project came to life," said Reiger. "They had contacts throughout the industry and brought in so many donors to help us. We could not have done this without them."

Due to the tremendous response of local businesses, the project from design through installation is more than 75 percent funded. Among major contributors are: GET Solutions Inc., Ridgway's, AGQUIV Environmental Services, ACF Environmental, Asphalt Roads/Contractors Paving Joint Venture, Virginia Beach Landscape Services and Powell Management Associates.

"We have a few more tricks up our sleeve," said Strickland, who attended a school assembly earlier this month to kick off the project. "It is great to see the business community stepping up to help promote fitness in our children."

David Leadenham, general manager for AGVIQ, which will do the excavation work and installation of geotextile and gravel, is the parent of three Luxford Elementary students who participated in last year's Dragon Dash. His wife is the PTA treasurer.

He said the project was well worth the effort to improve health.

"They used to put me to work picking up pizza for events," he joked. "This is a much better use of my truck."