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Focus Term: Champions


Blog
Seeds Planted for California’s 300-Mile Great Redwood Trail
May 16, 2019

The Great Redwood Trail is a 300-mile proposed trail from the shores of San Francisco Bay to the redwoods of Eureka on Humboldt Bay.

Along the route of the Great Redwood Trail in California | Photo by Charles Gandy
Blog
Pete Raynor, Railbanking Author, Named 2018 Rail-Trail Champion
September 26, 2018

Pete Raynor, central author of Railbanking legislation, was named 2018 Rail-Trail Champion. The 1983 Railbanking Act helped make many trails.

2018 Doppelt Family Rail-Trail Champions Award ceremony | Photo by Hung Tran
Blog
Honoring the Legacy of African-American Cycling Legend Major Taylor
February 15, 2017

In the late 1890s, an African-American dynamo exploded onto the bicycle racing scene at record-breaking speeds: Marshall “Major” Taylor.

Taylor on the chainless bicycle on which he won the world championship and broke world records in 1899. Uncredited photo, Taylor scrapbook. | Courtesy Major Taylor Association, Inc.
Blog
Rails-to-Trails Visionary and Conservancy Co-Founder David Burwell Passes Away
February 04, 2017

On the anniversary of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy’s (RTC’s) founding, rail-trail visionary and co-founder David Burwell passed away on Feb. 1, 2017, after a hard-fought battle with leukemia.

David Burwell with his wife Irene and mother Barbara in 2002 | Photo courtesy Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
Blog
Former R.E.M. Tour Manager Creates Rural Connections in Washington
November 06, 2016

It may be a no-brainer that Seattle-born Bobby Whittaker has always loved the outdoors, having been raised by the first American to summit Mt. Everest.

Bobby Whittaker, president of Ferry County Rail Trail Partners, with 770-foot trestle over Curlew Lake in background | Photo by Rich Landers
Blog
How May T. Watts Inspired the Illinois Prairie Path and U.S. Rail-Trail Movement
March 13, 2016

May Theilgaard Watts was a writer, illustrator, naturalist, scientist and teacher. Her determination that Americans stay connected to their natural landscape in a time of increasing urbanization was the catalyst that led to the formation of the Illinois Prairie Path,

Illinois Prairie Path | Trail photo courtesy David Wilson | CC by 2.0 | Photo of Watts by Isabel Wasson
Blog
Three Women Who Changed the Course of History On Bicycles
October 18, 2015

Susan B. Anthony, famed suffragette leader and women’s rights reformer, once said of the bicycle, “I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance.”

“La bicycliste et caricature, 1897” by Montorgueil, Georges, 1857-1933 (creator) Somm, Henry, 1844-1907 (illustrator) – This image is available from the Brown University Library under the digital ID 1123259547400435. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Blog
RTC’s Marianne Wesley Fowler Named 2014 Rail-Trail Champion
June 05, 2014

RTC is excited to announce Marianne Wesley Fowler of Alexandria, Va., as this year’s Doppelt Family Rail-Trail Champion.

Photos courtesy Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
2025 Celebrate Trails Day Lightbox with photo of runners