Supporter Spotlight: Danny Naylor
This month, we’re excited to feature Danny Naylor for our supporter spotlight! Danny is the head track & cross country coach for Newport High School and is an avid trail runner himself. He leads a summer trail running group in the Issaquah Alps and uses that as an opportunity to encourage youth to support the conservation and advocacy work that keeps the land and trails available for recreation.
By Danny Naylor
For the past four summers, starting during my time as an assistant coach in a previous program and now for the past three years as a head coach at Newport High School, I have held my team's summer practices once per week on various local trails. Importantly, though, I have also invited other schools and programs in the regions to coordinate and meet up with us together, both to expand our reach in getting kids out on the trails and also to build community and camaraderie among teams that otherwise only interact as competitors.
The most regular participants the past two years have been Newport High School, Garfield High School (under head coach Elizabeth Carey), Inglemoor High School (under head coach Rich Bennett), and The Northwest School (under head coach Paul Young). We have also had occasional participation from Franklin and Sammamish High Schools.
This summer our runs took us to təqa’iub (Grand Ridge), the Tradition Plateau area at c’əpaʔlt (Tiger Mountain), Debbie's Way on dxʷkayuʔalʔtxʷ (Squak Mountain), the Snoqualmie Tunnel on the Palouse-to-Cascades Trail, Soaring Eagle Park, and Poo Poo Point on c’əpaʔlt (Tiger Mountain). We usually have between 20 and 30 participants at any given run, although we set a record with 54 runners in the Snoqualmie tunnel (a favorite of many).
Summer high school cross-country running group at Snoqualmie Tunnel, photo courtesy of Danny Naylor
For the past two summers, we started collecting donations from participants. By bringing together a large group of young people to explore the trails, some for the first time, I felt it was important to support the conservation and advocacy work that keeps the trails available for our recreation, to offset the impacts that our group would have on the land, and to make donation and awareness a present part of young peoples' experience in the outdoors.
This year we raised $675, over double last year, which we split three ways in equal donations to the IATC, the Washington Trails Association, and the Snoqualmie Tribe Ancestral Lands Movement.
I hope to continue getting more young people to experience and appreciate the outdoors, and to increase diversity and access in the trail running space.
Join us in celebrating 45 years of the Issaquah Alps Trails Club! Thanks to generous supporters like Danny Naylor and the amazing high school cross country community, we have a unique opportunity to make an even bigger impact. During our Annual Campaign, every donation will be matched up to $45,000, doubling your contribution to conserve the beautiful Issaquah Alps for generations to come. We invite you to make your gift today and be part of this important mission!