The Lincoln Squirrel – News, features and photos from Lincoln, Mass.

Kids compete by paddling, pedaling and putting feet to the ground

October 30, 2012

(This article originally appeared in the Lincoln Journal on June 29, 2012.)

By Alice Waugh

Despite a few no-shows due to early-morning rain, 182 kids finished Lincoln’s ninth annual “Splash, Mash and Dash” kids’ triathlon last Saturday, with Lincoln residents finishing near the top in almost every age group.

Participants came from all over eastern Massachusetts and beyond, with one from as far away as Grosse Point, Mich. Forty-three of the finishers (about 24 percent) were Lincoln residents.

Before the start, kids checked in at the Codman Pool to have race numbers and ages written on their arms and legs in black marker and waterproof transponder chips attached to their ankles. Participants age 7 and up had to swim, bike and run different distances depending on their age group (although the 5- and 6-year-olds did only an “aquathon” without the biking portion).

After a stirring a capella rendition of the national anthem by Georgia and Brittany Baltay of Lincoln, the youngest kids did one length in the water (parents swimming alongside) and then dashed from the pool amid applause from the crowd to the running course marked with flags on the adjacent grassy field. Older kids instead ran to the parking lot, which was marked off in squares with spray paint for each child’s towel, bike, helmet, shoes, shirt and race bib. More than 40 volunteers plus a cohort of lifeguards helped guide the kids along the course and keep things running smoothly.

As racers neared the finish line, family members shouted encouragement, and proud parents posed their damp, tired and happy kids for photos after each was presented with a medal. Event co-organizer Karen Smyers of Lincoln acted as emcee. Using a wireless microphone, she congratulated kids as they finished with calls of “Nice finish! You got it! You did so well!”

“It was nice having a different bike route this year,” said 14-year-old Sam Hoenig of Lincoln, who finished in first place among 13- and 14-year-old boys. He noted that last year, the triathletes couldn’t bike or run on Lincoln Road (which was in the midst of a repaving project) and instead had to do laps around the ball field.

First to finish the boys’ aquathon was 6-year-old Peter Tompkins of Reading, Mass. He was so eager to run after his swim that he dashed our of the pool onto the course without bothering to don his shoes or shirt. But he comes by his triathlon enthusiasm honestly — he was one of nine cousins who took part. Three Tompkins siblings, four Smiths from Hingham and two Croteaus from Arlington entered, no doubt inspired by their grandmother, 70-year-old Pat Ryan of Medford, who started doing triathlons 27 years ago and is now a world-class triathlete in her age group.

Another top Lincoln finisher in her group was Olivia Pistorio, who came in sixth overall among the 9- and 10-year-old girls. “I think I like the biking part best, because you can glide and rest a bit and not have to use your arms,” she said. The event was more enjoyable for her this time because recent weather made for more comfortable swimming in the unheated Codman Pool. “Last year the water was freezing,” she said.

All morning, parents and kids clustered around a TV monitor showing everyone’s times, which were recorded by the transponder chips and transmitted to computers in All Sports Events van near the finish line. Complete results are available on the All Sports website (click on “Results”).

Everyone got a chance to finish the course, even if they didn’t do it strictly by the book. Smyers reported that one girl missed the route on the bike course, but organizers accommodated her request to repeat the entire triathlon without being timed. A child in the youngest age group was scared to start the swim along with her peers, “but when the race was about two-thirds over, she decided she was ready,” so organizers let her unofficially complete the aquathon, Smyers said.

Another happy athlete was 7-year-old Henry Fenollosa of Arlington, who crossed the finish line together with his twin brother Leo despite wearing a brace on his lower leg. Their mother, Catherine Fenollosa, explained that Henry was diagnosed with cancer of the spine while she was still pregnant with him. He started chemotherapy when he was one day old and is now cancer-free, though he was left with partial paralysis in one leg. When registering for the triathlon (his first), Henry insisted on competing with his age group rather than the younger kids. Successfully completing all three segments was “huge,” his mother said.

Top finishers received prizes including Timex “Ironman” watches, Saucony jackets and sweatshirts, and gift cards from Marathon Sports. There were also raffle prizes from donors including Something Special.

The first Lincoln residents to finish in each group (and their overall results for their group) were

Ages 5-6: Ginger Perry (3rd), Dylan Russell (3rd)
Ages 7-8: Sophie Herant (1st), Callum Stein (1st)
Ages 9-10: Olivia Pistorio (6th), Simon Perry (1st)
Ages 11-12: Larsen Henken (5th), Danny Hoenig (3rd)
Ages 13-14: Charlotte Sykes (1st), Sam Hoenig (1st)

Drumlin farmers show how to milk it for everything it’s worth

October 30, 2012

(This article was originally published in the Lincoln Journal on June 14, 2012.)

By Alice Waugh

Lots of people drink milk every day, but most of them don’t see how it gets from cow to cup. Drumlin Farm staff rectified that situation for hundreds of visitors on Dairy Day last Saturday, which was both educational and udderly delicious.

The third annual Dairy Day in June (National Dairy Month) is one of Drumlin Farm’s periodic “theme days,” which include Woolapalooza earlier this spring. Visitors could watch a cow being milked, taste some freshly made yogurt cheese, and even make butter in a bottle. “We wanted to give people a chance to learn more about where milk comes from and the different ways you can use it to make other dairy products,” said visitor education coordinator Renata Pomponi.

At swap table, Lincolnites can take it or leave it

October 29, 2012

(Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the Lincoln Journal in 2012 before author Alice Waugh went on to found the Lincoln Squirrel.)

By Alice Waugh

A tackle box with some rusty fishing lures inside. A wooden spice rack. Ski boots. An unopened package of cassette tapes. Bamboo window shades. A child’s bicycle. Toys galore. These were just a few of the things that could be found recently at the Lincoln transfer station’s swap table, where the town’s dedication to recycling can be seen in spades

Malene Coombs gathers up some board games for students at the Boston school where she teaches. (Photo: Alice Waugh)

On Wednesdays and Saturdays, Lincoln residents bring their garbage and recyclable materials to the transfer station (some still call it the dump for short, although trash is no longer buried in the adjacent landfill). There are metal trailers to hold trash, paper and cardboard, glass and plastic, and metal, as well as containers for donated clothing and old TVs.

Many Lincolnites (visitors must have a resident sticker to enter the transfer station) also stop by the swap table to leave things they don’t want and perhaps take home someone else’s discarded item that catches their eye. And sometimes they may happen upon something unexpected—including, once, a Prada handbag discovered by Bernadette Quirk, a Recycling Committee member who helps manage the swap table and answers residents’ recycling questions.

“I saw this little black bag and thought, “Oh, my daughter might like that,'” Quirk said. “I had no idea what it was at first.”

Grace Sweetser checks out a discarded toy that she thought might be fun for the beach. (Photo: Alice Waugh)

Residents sometimes drop off their swap table items in a single pile, so Quirk and her fellow Recycling Committee volunteers, including Sue Stason and Janice Phillipps, sort the items, deciding what should be thrown in the trash, what can be saved and stored in the shed for another day, and what can be donated to Goodwill if no one else wants it.

“We find that when we unpack things and display them, they move much quicker,” Phillipps said.

The committee members volunteer their time to help the bottom line (“the more the town recycles, the more money it saves,” Stason said), but also for the social benefits.

“I get to see all my neighbors and say hi,” Phillipps said. “It’s a very civic activity.”

Other unusual items left at the swap table in the past have included a bag of ammunition pellets that broke open—”it was such a mess,” Quirk said—and even food, which the volunteers throw in the trash right away, along with anything broken or potentially dangerous.

One of the most memorable swap table findings was several old-fashioned enemas. “Someone must have been cleaning out their grandmother’s house,” Quirk said. “We were laughing so hard.”

The volunteers see their mission not just as sorters, but as educators. Sometimes residents don’t know where to recycle something such as brush (the answer: at the Department of Public Works on Lewis Street). Or they don’t realize that dry and laundered textiles of any kind—unmatched socks, single shoes, even moth-eaten blankets—can be recycled in the Red Cross container. Items that can’t reused for their original purpose are ground up for another use, Phillipps said.

One common type of item residents leave at the swap table are things their kids no longer use. Malene Coombs of Page Road was happy to stuff some children’s books and board games into a plastic bag for the children at the Boston public school where she teaches

“My school is one of the most needy,” said Coombs, who takes swap-table items for her fellow teachers and parent coordinators as well as her own students. “This stuff is invaluable.”

“That gladdens my heart, because there’s so much stuff that just gets dumped,” Stason said.

“It’s true what they say—one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” said Quirk.