Mountain Day shines despite cloudy skies

SPARTA — Overcast skies didn’t stop a flurry of activity from at Ryker’s Lake on Sunday for the sixth annual Sparta Mountain Day. The festivities were two-fold, including Livestrong events, featuring the third annual Livestrong 5K Run, and events geared toward teaching about the environment. The day kicked off with the race. Bill Washer, of Ogdensburg, was the winner of the run with his “wing men” brothers Justin and Jeremy Scheid, of Sparta. Though the three came in together, the Scheids gave the official win to Washer. On the ladies’ side, even though Laure DeLea, of Team Eastern, ran the Run Around Lake Mohawk the day before, she bounced back to take the women’s title. “It’s a lot of hill,” DeLea said, “You take Edison Road to the Edison Monument then back.” Both Justin Scheid and DeLea ran in the Run Around Lake Mohwak the day before. Environmental activities included hiking, birding, biking, mining tours and presentations from experts about the environment and its sustainability and protection and Northern New Jersey Cachers participated in an introduction to Geocaching 101 Workshop. The Sparta Mountain Coalition is a grassroots, community organization whose motto is “Celebrating Our Environment, Our Health and Our Sustainable Future.”