Rocky Point provides change of pace for cross country runners

Matt Metcalf
Posted 10/1/15

For many Rhode Islanders, Rocky Point State Park serves as a distant memory.

The once well-known amusement park shut down in 1995, and the park itself went unused for nearly 20 years, reopening …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

Rocky Point provides change of pace for cross country runners

Posted

For many Rhode Islanders, Rocky Point State Park serves as a distant memory.

The once well-known amusement park shut down in 1995, and the park itself went unused for nearly 20 years, reopening to the public on Oct. 25, 2014.

Toll Gate cross country coach Norm Bouthillier remembers the once-illustrious park well.

“I saw AC/DC right here on the midway in 1978,” Bouthillier said on Tuesday night while pointing to where the Palladium was. “It was a free concert. I think it was $6 you paid. It was a lot of fun.”

But while Bouthillier remembers Rocky Point Park, his current team certainly doesn’t.

In fact, Bouthillier’s runners were born after the park closed in 1995. But on Tuesday, they were acquainted with it when the Titans hosted Middletown, Chariho, Narragansett and Exeter/West Greenwich for the first-ever cross country dual meet at Rocky Point Park.

Bouthillier had envisioned the park to be a potential meet venue after running through Rocky Point during the road race in each of the last few years.

He indicated that with each year the park continued to show improvements.

“I ran the road race here three years in a row, and in the first year this place looked like a ghost town,” Bouthillier said. “It was all boarded up. In the second year, it was a little better. And then last year, I came through here and went ‘Wow.’ So after the race, I came back and jogged around for four or five miles and thought ‘This would be great for a cross country race.”

It turns out that Bouthillier’s notion was right.

Rocky Point provided runners from the five schools with a challenging and unique course on Tuesday – a scenic upgrade from the conventional courses at the high schools around the state.

And nothing was going to ruin the historic race – not even rain.

“The rain certainly made it exciting because years from now we’ll be talking about how the very first meet here was in a monsoon,” Bouthillier joked. “It was epic proportions of rain. But it was fun, I liked it. The girls found the course challenging. The boys really liked it, though. Our boys have run on it a few times and I know the Chariho boys said they liked it.”

In the girls’ race, Narragansett’s Marissa McPhillips left her competition in the dust as the rain began to come down, easily claiming first place.

Toll Gate’s top finisher in the girls’ race was Sophia Maynard, who came in fourth with a time of 22 minutes, 16 seconds.

In the boys’ race, Toll Gate’s top finisher, Nicholas Cehelsky, also claimed fourth place.

Tuesday isn’t going to be just a one-time deal either.

Bouthillier couldn’t speak for other coaches in the city, but his plan is for the Titans to hold their dual meets at Rocky Point going forward.

“This is open, there’s plenty of parking and it’s just great,” Bouthillier said. “Whenever we have scheduled dual meets, I’d like to have them here. We’re very happy with it so far.”

Now younger generations will be given the opportunity to build their own memories at Rocky Point Park.

Much like the many fond memories that Bouthillier recalled after the race on Tuesday.

“For spectators, Rocky Point is something that’s treasured,” Bouthillier said.

Comments

1 comment on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here

  • JohnStark

    Great idea and execution by Coach Bouthillier.

    Thursday, October 1, 2015 Report this