There was cause for celebration as the LCF Trails Game, cosponsored by the Kiwanis Club of La Cañada and the LCF Trails Council, recognized the grand prize awardees and at a recent noon-time Zoom ceremony. A total of 82 participants amassed 54,135 points, with the first place grand prize winner, Gabriel Gonzalez, racking up 10,235 points. Event participants included students on the La Cañada High School mountain bike team, with horseback-riding challenges logged in, and families and kids with their pets hitting the trails just to have fun.

Aimed at encouraging participants of all ages to go outdoors for a healthy dose of fresh air and exercise, the LCF Trails Game Committee Chair Linda Fors, said, “The response from the community exceeded all of our expectations! It was great to see the tally go up each week as more people kept joining the game.

“We are delighted and it has inspired the committee to brainstorm some exciting ideas for the second annual LCF Trails Game!”

The LCF Trails Council president and committee member Tom Reynolds said, “The Trails Game was our first partnership with the Kiwanis and together we successfully brought more awareness about our wonderful trail system to the community. Many people said they walked on new trails they had never been on before. This was the first year of this event. It was really fun and we look forward to partnering with Kiwanis again next year.”

During the Zoom festivities, Trails Game Committee Member Elizabeth Georgeon presented a commemorative patch to the hikers who completed the 12.7-mile “City Loop,” including Nigel Angold, Carol Bruegge, Gabriel Gonzalez, Cate Shin, Daniel Washburn and Simon Cheng – who did the loop three times! The patches were donated by Nigel Angold, a Scout leader in La Cañada Flintridge. Angold has dispensed an estimated 70 patches over the years to Scouts and their families who completed the City Loop.

Among the LCF Trails Game Committee members were youth representatives LCHS junior Phil Klemmer and LCHS senior George Kamar. Both students were a vital link to the success of the event. Klemmer designed a data collection form available on the LCF Trail Council website, set up a QR code, and enabled mountain bikers to use Strava to record their trip. He also tallied the points each week, monitored the entries and summed the totals to identify the weekly and grand prize winners. Kamar scouted locations used for the trivia and photo opportunity challenges, and lent his creative talent to produce photos used in the flyers, banners, posters and publicity.

To spark interest in the history of the trails and learn interesting facts about the community, 10 trivia and photo bonus point challenges were created by committee member Jennifer Seastrom. As an added perk, a LCF Trail map and DVD were available to all participants, courtesy of the LCF Trails Council.

The grand prize winners receiving the top overall points were Gabriel Gonzalez, Cate Shin, Nigel Angold; honorable mention was given to Simon Cheng.

The weekly winners received a cash card prize and included Cate Shin, Nigel Angold, Gabriel Gonzalez, Simon Cheng, Claire Saydan, Joseph Ferry, Daniel Washburn, Elenie Menemenlis, Frank Reifsnyder, Carol Bruegge, Tom Bruegge and Zoe Watts.

To get more information about the Kiwanis email lacanadakiwanis@gmail.com or visit lacanadakiwanis.org. For those interested in more information about the trails contact the LCF Trails Council at lcftrails.org.