Belfast Area High School has ceased to allow track and field meets on its campus until a new athletic complex can be built. With fundraising for the estimated $5.5 million price tag potentially setting the project back years, one school alumni is doing his part to promote the cause and bring donations to the project.

Jonathan Hayslip, a Belfast native and BAHS Class of 2000 graduate, is vowing to stay on the BAHS track for 24 hours, Saturday, June 15, 2024, into the morning hours of June 16.

With rain ending just prior to Hayslip’s 6 a.m. start time, he began to run. His middle school aged daughter, Acadia, along with three students that he coaches on the track team, set a rigorous pace for the early morning. Then, as the clouds cleared and the sun came out, Hayslip slowed to a walk, resting his running muscles for the next group of supporters who pop in and out throughout the day, hoping to jog at his side. Another friend couldn’t stay, but dropped off energy drinks. For awhile Hayslip’s watch assisted keeping track, but, the battery lost charge around 10 a.m., despite being fully charged before the start. His phone is his backup, and by noon, was indicating that he’d covered around 22 miles.

“I’m just slogging out the miles, an hour at a time,” he said. “I can’t look at 6 o’clock tomorrow morning right now. That’s a ways away.”

Through that duration, Hayslip has had plenty of time to notice the crumbling infrastructure, to the point that when the new Athletic Director, Susan Robbins, came on board this year, she looked at the track a few months ago, either January or February 2024, and said no more meets.

BAHS once had a dirt track. A 1993 modernization gave way to the synthetic, and with that came State Championship and Eastern Maine conferences and hundreds of school kids from across the state. All were attracted to the location just off Route 1 and Route 3, the easy access, and hospitable accommodations.

No longer. On the rear side of the oval, the middle lanes of the 6-lane track are noticeably higher than the outer lanes, with the lane next to the inner field worn away in spots and sloping downward. All the way around, grass grows through the rubber. The long jump and triple jump pits no longer hold a predetermined shape, and also need to be weeded each year. The press box is in bad shape, and the bleachers aren’t ideal.

The plan, which began under the previous athletic director but didn’t get beyond the planning stage, is to rebuild everything. Create a set of bleachers that are aluminum and can fit 1,000 fans, and then center those bleachers to the midline. Let those fans look down upon the closest side of a track that would have eight lanes for the sprint races and pep rallies (they’ll keep with 6 lanes on the rear side). Clean out the south corner of the field where untouched hurdles are slowly becoming hidden by tall grass, and then move all of the jumping events over there. Build a new fence that stands upright and doesn’t have a tree stump protruding through the links, and then possibly clear out the vegetation behind the fence so that spectators can spread out and see more than they can see from the one set of bleachers. Move the javelin and discuss sites to the opposite side and lay down turf. Bring in sheds and other amenities, and, generate more field space at track level so that teams don’t have to stage in a parking lot far below the event.

It will be a way to bring the field hockey back from their current practice field at Point Lookout, in Northport, and make the center field at BAHS into a highly favored football, soccer, field hockey landmark.

For track and field, it will bring back the support from the home-town fans. This season has been tough on the track team and especially the seniors, according to Hayslip. No homecoming meets, no sizeable crowd of familiar faces.

And, it’s not just students of BAHS. This is the home track for Troy Howard Middle School. Islesboro brings its team here to practice, as does Searsport. The younger kids come here to watch the high schoolers, to see how athletics should be done.

Hayslip, who is the head indoor track coach, and the outdoor coach for middle distance runners, participated here as a student. He has great memories. His older daughter missed out on having a home track this year, and Hayslip is aiming to make sure that his younger daughter has an opportunity to create her own memories, hopefully in the spring of 2026, when a new facility is created, assuming the money can be obtained.

“Having my kids going to this school, it’s up to me,” he said. “They need to have the facility to practice on, to play games on for their careers here.

Twenty people attended the last fundraiser meeting, May 15. They learned then that the project has already raised $200,000. Of that money, half came from a bequeath from Athletic Director Susan Robbins’ father, a part of the Robbins Lumber Family. And, if the rest of the money comes soon, the field would be dug up during next springs’ track season.

Hayslip isn’t daunted by his 24-hour fundraising marathon. He did a similar event in 2017 to help raise funds and awareness for Parkinson's Disease. But that time, he called it quits at 1 a.m., having lapped the track for a total of 75 miles. This year, his goal is 70 miles at a much slower pace.

And, if he does this type of fundraiser again, he’ll know to keep his peanut butter and honey sandwich well contained. With no birds in sight when he started, he thought he was safe to leave the food on a table. Around 8 a.m., a crow flew by and nabbed the feast.

At 6 a.m. Sunday morning, after a family picture at the finish line, Hayslip plans to return to his Northport home, sleep for a few hours, and then enjoy a nice Father’s Day (and look forward to a PB and Honey sandwich).

Find more information about the project at https://bahs.rsu71.org/athleticsactivities/athletics

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com