On Sunday, October 16, a 5k road race was held in David W. Deakin Educational Park. The motto of this race was, “Making the dream a reality.” Benefits of the race will help plan a new community pool.

Bethel High School swim coach Ms. Katie McGowan is on the pool planning committee. She explains, “I would consider this race a success. There was a turnout of 120 people with the benefits going to pay for the plans of the pool. In total we made about $3,000 from the race.”

Ms. McGowan, like many, is optimistic for the development of this plan. She is looking forward to having a pool near school to avoid carpooling to use the pool at Western Connecticut State University. She says the swimming facilities are nice at WestConn, but not all students can drive to get there.

Ms. McGowan explains that the new “pool will have eight lanes in total. Six of them will be used for the swim team, and the other two are open to the public. We would also like it to be partially outdoors for summer use, and to make it bigger.”

“For the community, there can also be swim lessons, physical therapy for senior citizens, training for student-athletes and other fun events,” Ms. McGowan adds.

Ms. McGowan is optimistic. “It will come sooner or later. It will probably take a couple of years. Overall, the key is to get the money to pay for the plans and then see where we are from there.”