DOVER-FOXCROFT — For the last 23 years Foxcroft Academy graduates, community members and visitors to the region have been able to kick off the Saturday of Foxcroft Academy Alumni Weekend/Dover-Foxcroft Shiretown Homecoming by running in the Pony Pride 5K.

Brothers Jackson and Landon Smith of the Foxcroft Youth Track club combined to win three events and place in the top two in four overall during the 14 & Under USATF-Maine Association State Championship Group D qualifier on Aug. 1 at the Brewer Community School.

Whether you are a hunter or just an outdoor person with a fascination for wildlife in its natural surroundings, a trail camera is a useful device that allows you to not only get some great photos of wildlife, but figure out which animals are moving and at what time of the day.

More than a dozen residents from across the region took part in the 2019 Tough Mountain Challenge at Sunday River on July 27. Gail Clark, 54 of Atkinson, covered the course in a time of 1 hour, 6 minutes and 53 seconds to place 395th among 2,841 entrants getting all the way through.

Before the hiking (and the sweating and swatting of flies), and before the fishing, Jay Robinson of Woodville prepared for a trek into one of his favorite places, a trouty water he would prefer to be called “The Pond Behind the Rock” rather than by its real name.

Friends of Community Fitness held its 14th annual Fitness 5K, as part of the Piscataquis River Festival, on the morning of July 27 with the following results:

It’s no secret what the most important challenges facing the high school sports officiating ranks around Maine and the nation are -- recruitment and retention. Jeff Benson of Auburn hopes to combat those challenges as the state’s first commissioner of officials.

For the 18th consecutive summer wrestlers in grades 5-12 from across Maine came to town to learn techniques and skills they can use during the upcoming scholastic season at the Foxcroft Academy Olympic Wrestling Camp held July 23-26. The camp features guest clinicians and this year the younger grapplers had the opportunity to learn from two Maine wrestlers who have gone on to earn collegiate All-American status.

DOVER-FOXCROFT -- In conjunction with Foxcroft Academy’s Alumni Weekend and the Dover-Foxcroft Shiretown Homecoming, the 23rd annual Pony Pride 5K will be open to all and run at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 3. For the fourth year in a row, the 3.1-mile event is starting and ending on the campus of Foxcroft Academy.

The Big Pine Gun Club Youth Foundation sponsored its first Conservation Camp the week of June 24 at the Big Pine Gun Club in Willimantic. Fifteen campers, aged 12-17, participated in the week-long camp. Campers learned to safely handle, load, unload, and shoot rifles, shotguns, crossbows, and standard archery equipment. They also practiced survival skills in the Maine woods and reviewed basic first aid.

Al Hackett, a member of the University of Maine and State of Maine Baseball Halls of Fame, died at his home in Orono on July 13 after a bout with cancer. He was 88.

But the South and its West region high school seniors from the 2018 season reasserted their collective strength Saturday at steamy Thornton Academy in Saco, racing out to a 21-0 first-quarter lead and cruising to a record-breaking 60-14 victory over the East.

Recently Maine’s new fish and wildlife commissioner, Judy Camuso, was a studio guest on Maine Calling, an interactive radio program on the National Public Radio station in Portland. She performed well as she outlined the goals and challenges of the Department in the months ahead. The control of coyote populations in the North Woods by IF&W contractors, as well as recreational hunters, was a hot topic. There was a pronounced “urban bias” as some callers railed against coyote-population control as an institutionalized policy implemented by the Department.

Luis Ayala, who has coached the Foxcroft Academy wrestling team to six state championships in 17 years, will be one of four new inductees into the Maine Amateur Wrestling Alliance (MAWA) Hall of Fame next month.

On July 4 three area residents took part in the 39th annual Walter Hunt Memorial 4th of July 3K from Brewer to Bangor.

Al Harris of Hampden and his brother-in-law, Joe Vachon of Toronto, spent a few days fishing together last week, landing an unlikely fish story in the process.

Both will be prominent during this week’s All-Star Game festivities at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio, and both are using bats made in Maine.

Seventy runners took part in the annual Fourth of July 5K on Independence Day morning. Shawn Keenan, 41, won the race a time of 18 minutes, 40 seconds over the 3.1 miles.