By Allyssa Schoonover
Reporter
A new miniature running trail, called the Cub Trail, will be added to campus this summer, which will create a half-mile loop around the rugby fields near the Baylor Sciences Building.
According to the bill that went through Student Senate to fund the trail, one of the main reasons Campus Recreation decided to add this trail was for the safety of Baylor students. The area is better lit and avoids busy streets and intersections, unlike the Bear Trail which encounters heavily-trafficked areas like University Parks and Eighth Street. Also, the crushed gravel is better on a runner’s joints than the concrete sidewalks.
Houston senior Kyle Hinn has been working with Campus Recreation to make the Cub Trail possible.
“I sit on the campus improvements and affairs committee,” Hinn said. “Mrs. Kim Scott came back to me to go through Student Senate for the funding of this project.”
Scott is the director of Baylor Campus Recreation. Campus Recreation has seen a need for another, safer trail over the past three years.
Hinn said the reason it has been in the works for so long is because they were waiting for students’ support and feedback. Student government helped them to get that.
The total cost of the endeavor is $22,353, with student government providing $10,000 in funding towards the project. Hinn said the reason he thinks it is so costly is due to the quarter mile of crushed gravel they will put in, as well as the mile markers and signs they will add that are supposed to be vandalism-proof.
“Campus Rec is really excited about it,” Hinn said. “It brings people closer to the SLC, you can get outside on nice days like today and can avoid running on the hamster wheel inside.”
San Antonio senior Kimani Mitchell said she likes the convenient proximity of the Cub Trail to the McLane Student Life Center.
“You can take that half-mile jog around the SLC as a warm-up without getting too far from the SLC,” Mitchell said.
So many students use the Bear Trail, and this gives them another option. The lifetime fitness running classes frequently use the Bear Trail and could use this as a starting point.
“The running professors could use this as a primer for students who can’t run two miles at the beginning of the semester,” Edmond, Okla., senior Virgil Walker said. “I think it’s a great use of SGAF money.”
SGAF is the Student Government Allocation Fund that Student Senate uses to fund projects and events on-campus.
“I’m excited to get it done,” Hinn said. “I’m going to use it a lot and I would encourage everyone to get out there and use it as well.”
