Just a few years ago, this park was not well utilized, except for a place where some negative activity took place, from what I understand. It is now well kept up and much cleaner, with a picnic shelter and playground equipment, and best of all to someone like me, a very nice walking trail that meanders through the woods.
The walking trail is the result of Alex, who is a Boy Scout and with the help of others, designed and made the trail as an Eagle Scout project.
What a gift to Durham residents from this outstanding young man! I recently had the pleasure of walking the trail in late October, and it was just beautiful. Fall leaves padded my walk and the path was clearly laid out, and tree trunks and limbs laid on the side of the trail show a route that is easy to follow. Many of the trees that you pass by are marked and identified.
Alex Cattoti is a young man Durham can be proud of. The Argonne Hills Neighborhood, along with help from the Durham Police and Durham Parks and Recreation Departments, also deserve our praise for a most worthy project, giving Durham residents another nice place to enjoy the outdoors and get exercise.
If you read me regularly, you know I am an avid walker. I walk my neighborhood, I love to go to a farm out in the country my family owns and walk there, I walk on treadmills (but only when I can't get outside), I walk the American Tobacco Trails, I enjoy walking Northgate Park and the Eno River Parks in Durham, and the Ayr Mount Trail in Hillsborough is one of my favorites.
Walking is a great way to exercise, it makes you feel good, it relaxes you, it energizes you, it is very affordable (how does nothing sound?), it requires almost no skill, it burns lots of calories, tones muscles and improves the way you look. Walking helps you mentally. Thoreau once said that he had to get his legs moving before his thoughts began to flow. Make it a regular habit in your life.
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Speaking of another young man who we can be proud of, Peter Curtin recently passed away after competing in the Baltimore Marathon.
Peter was an outstanding student and athlete at East Chapel High School. He was an All-American lacrosse player on a state championship team in high school, and was valedictorian of his class. Peter graduated from Princeton at the top of his class in chemistry, and a paper based on his senior thesis is scheduled to be published soon in the journal Inorganic Chemistry. After Princeton, Peter entered graduate school in chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. What a shining example Peter is for others to follow. He set goals in his life and accomplished more in his 23 years than most people afforded many more years of life. One of his goals was to run a marathon.
Sadly at the 25 mile mark of the 26.2 mile Baltimore Marathon, Peter collapsed. Around two hours later, he was dead. The cause of death is unknown at this point. What a tragic loss, but at the same time such an inspiring legacy Peter Curtin left.
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I enjoyed speaking to the Durham Sports Club recently. My topic was Duke basketball and my recent book, "Duke Basketball: A Pictorial History," which includes over 200 old pictures of Duke basketball. Bob Harris, voice of the Blue Devils, and former head coach Bucky Waters, wrote forewords for the book.
The Durham Sports Club has been around for years and every two weeks these gentlemen and ladies get together for lunch, to socialize and listen to a guest speaker. Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams have been recent speakers.
We have such a great offering of sports in Durham and this area, and the Durham Sports Club does a fantastic job. One of their best programs is the sponsorship of Durham Scholar-Athlete Awards, an annual scholarship awarded to deserving local high school students. You can learn more about this fine organization by going to durhamsportsclub.com or contacting Jon Fletcher at jafletcher @mindspring.com.
Lewis Bowling teaches physical education at N.C. Central University and Duke University and is a personal trainer certification examiner with the American College of Sports Medicine. He can be reached at 530-6224 and at Lewis_Bowling@yahoo.com.
