KAPAA — More than a hundred Kapaa Elementary School summer school students had an opportunity to preview the route of the Mayor-a-Thon on Friday. “A lot of the students will be participating in the Mayor-a-Thon,” said Althea Arinaga. “This is
KAPAA — More than a hundred Kapaa Elementary School summer school students had an opportunity to preview the route of the Mayor-a-Thon on Friday.
“A lot of the students will be participating in the Mayor-a-Thon,” said Althea Arinaga. “This is one way they give back.”
The 129 students in kindergarten through fifth-grade broke into two groups, one starting from the Lihi Park while the other started from the Kealia Beach lifeguard tower.
Making their way to the Kapaa Neighborhood Center meeting area, the groups of students not only walked Ke Ala Hele Makalae multi-use path, they lugged 20 trash cans which had been decorated by the students for placement along the Mayor-a-Thon path.
“Look,” Arinaga pointed out. “There’s a trash can students did two years ago. And, there is another. The students do this project every two years. This year, the students started painting last Thursday after the county dropped off the cans.”
Linda Nuland-Ames, the county’s Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator, was inspecting the special ADA mats at the Kapaa Beach Park while the county’s public works crew finished washing down the mobile stage and unpacked new trash cans for use around the park where the thrust of activity will take place.
“Things are getting better,” Nuland-Ames said. “Last year, we used eight of these ADA mats. This year, the ground has been leveled and we only needed two. I’ll have short pieces which will be put in Saturday morning before the event starts.”
Nuland-Ames anticipates a lot of people attending the free Mayor-a-Thon which opens with registration from 6:30 a.m. at the Kapaa Beach Park.
Online registration closed Thursday, and people are still able to come down starting at 6:30 a.m. to register for the free 1, 2, 4, 6, or 8-mile walk, bike, or run.
“This is a last-minute reminder,” Nuland-Ames said. “People hear the alarm, and see this, triggering the light — ah, I can do this. And, dogs on leashes are welcome, and there is a continental breakfast at the end.”
Nuland-Ames said when the online registration opened, there were 600 entrants in the first few days.
“The event hats are gone,” she said. “They were limited to the first 600 people. But there are GEICO water bottles for everyone.”
