If you are an avid trail runner or walker, don’t miss out on the Pan-Ipswich Challenge! The 20-mile course highlights scenic trails from Hood Pond to Steep Hill Beach. The event, now in it’s fourth year, will be held on Saturday, October 26th. Enjoy the autumn foliage at its peak and support Essex County Trail Association’s mission to preserve and maintain 
Started in 2010, the inaugural event consisted of three adventurous participants who each raised sponsorships for their walk on behalf of ECTA. Exhausted but invigorated, the group completed the twenty miles in an incredible six hours! In two short years, the Challenge grew to over thirty participants and garnered enough interest to warrant a running contingency, led by ECTA board members Richard Silverman and Rob Martin. Walkers set off at 8:00 am, while runners departed at 10:30 am, heading out over the wooded trails of Willowdale State Forest and Bradley Palmer State Park. Water and snacks were waiting for the walkers and runners at the Appleton Farms Grass Rides halfway point where they took a short break before completing the final ten miles across Appleton Farms, Maplecroft Farm and down Argilla Road to the finish line at Steep Hill Beach.
Diane Young, an Ipswich Bay Circuit Trail Committee “Wednesday Walker,†participated in the 2012 event. She had done several shorter walks prior to the Challenge, but had never completed a trek of this length. “My fellow Wednesday Walkers were happy to support my dream and ECTA, whose trails we use regularly. Since I wasn’t a long-distance walker, one of them met me halfway with a change of footwear. Another took me to her whirlpool after I enjoyed the cookout at the end, and that felt wonderful on my aching legs. I had a great sense of accomplishment.â€
In order to join the Pan-Ipswich Challenge, participants are asked to raise $100 through sponsorships. The money raised from the event provides much needed funds for trail projects so that ECTA can continue their mission “to maintain and protect access to the trails and open lands throughout Hamilton, Wenham, Ipswich, Topsfield, Essex and West Newbury.†Although the full length of the Challenge is twenty miles, ECTA welcomes participants who prefer to walk or run ten miles in support of the organization. All attendees and their families are invited to the finish line celebration at Steep Hill Beach, complete with hot soups, breads and cider.
For more information on how you can join the Challenge or sponsor a participant, please visit the Essex County Trail Association website at www.ectaonline.org or call 978-468-1133.