Waggin Trail Bike Ride 2009 Gives Public Thanks to Our Community
Hill County Paw Pals and Hillsboro Police
Department Community Outreach Programs successfully concluded their joint fund
raiser—“Waggin’ Trails Bike Ride 2009”. Designed routes of 10, 28, 40, 58, and
70 miles were provided to challenge cyclists of all levels. The success of this
event stemmed from a supporting community, volunteers, sponsors and the
outstanding professional support providing by our area Emergency Response
Agencies—Woodbury Volunteer Fire Department, Bynum Volunteer Fire Department,
and Hillsboro Community Emergency Response (CERT). Hill County Sheriff Jeff Lyon
also represented the Hill County Sheriff Office in the command communications
center. We are blessed to have a community willing to support two important
causes: A group facilitating the installation of a county animal shelter and a
program organized to reduce crime by increasing community involvement.
The main event sponsor was Outlets at Hillsboro. The following businesses (in
alphabetical order) were our di
amond sponsors: Brookshire Grocery Company,
Citizens National Bank, Dixie LP-Gas, Expressions Photography, HILCO, Hill
Regional Hospital, Hillsboro Lions Club, Hog Wild Graphics, Jackson Insurance
and Financial Services, Tipton International Inc., and Tucker Lumber. The
following (in alphabetical order) were our valued sponsors: B & G Tire, Days
Inn, First National Bank of Central Texas,
H-E-B, Hill College, Hill County Insurance Agency—Siddons, Hill Family Dental,
Julie Siddons Realtors, KHBR 1560 AM Radio, Marshall & Marshall Funeral
Directors, Rick’s Quick Lube, and Starbucks Corporation. Sincere thanks to our
area newspapers for providing space to help advertise with our related news
articles: Hubbard City News, Itasca Paw Print Press, The Reporter
Newspaper and Whitney LakeLander.
First impressions for an event that draws cyclists from long distances are very
important and begin to form during the registration period. Both Hillsboro Lions
Club and Whitney High School Paw Pals Club awakened early to start registering
our cycling guests at 6:30am. All cyclists were registered, outfitted with
T-shirts, provided maps of their routes, and lined up for the start of the ride
at 8:00am.
Safely guiding nearly 200 cyclists over five routes
that stretched from 10 to 70 miles over public roads was no small feat. Detailed
coordination became a necessity and special recognition is due specifically for
Detective Israel Abrego and Animal Control Officer James DeLuca of the Hillsboro
Police Department for being the key coordinators.
A total of five rest areas supported the cyclists as safety liaisons and with
refreshments: Loraine Easterling of Citizens National Bank, Sabrina Leal and Kim
Craig of Hillsboro
Police Department, Bob Crabtree of Hillsboro
Lions Club, JD & Jean Landis and Lana Crow of Paw Pals. The much sought after
event T-Shirt design was from M&M Screens (Christi Pevehouse). Our sponsor
banner, posters, and signs were provided by Sara Duvose of Hog Wild Graphic
s.
Many cyclists search the internet for rides so advertisement on the web becomes
a critical player. We were very fortunate to have Warren Smith design our
website
www.waggintrailbikeride.com so cyclist could view the routes and register
on-line. This site will be continuously open to help advertise next year’s
event. Smith was also the primary designer of the brochures and posters that
helped attract cyclist to our event.
The planning committee for this worthy event in alphabetical order were:
Hillsboro Police Detective Israel Abrego, Hillsboro Chief of Police Tony Cain,
Paw Pals board member Lana Crow, Family Diagnostic Medical Center Dr. Lane
Dykes, Outlets at Hillsboro Rebecca Galuppo, Paw Pals board member Mike
Hendricks, FUMC Reverend Reed Justus, and Paw Pals volunteer Warren Smith. All
of the riders’ critiques were positive—key elements to building a reputation
that will draw other cyclists for continued success with our next ride in May
2010. Outlets at Hillsboro will again sponsor next year’s ride where we expect
over 1,000 participants—drawing a rippling effect to our area’s economy.
For information about Paw Pals, please visit
www.helphillcountyanimals.com or call (254) 580-0679.