A total of 12 Marion Troop 32 Boy Scouts made it through a six-day survival camp at Camp Cachalot in Carver.

Many scouts, who had never been away from their parents for more than a day, took the week-long Cachalot adventure head-on, with competitions in rifle shooting, archery, fishing, swim and survival tests and more.

The Boy Scouts, ranging in age from 11-15, never complained, even while living among the trees during last weeks major rain and windstorm.  The Camp Cachalot week would not have been possible for the Boy Scouts if not for Troop Assistant Scoutmaster Bob Nakashian, who took time out of his own busy life to guide the Boy Scouts through the entire week.

Troop 32 took all three awards in the “Top Gun” Rifleman award.  Zachary “BA” Pateakos took 1st place in the 22 rifle shooting competition, Matt Hlady took 2^nd place and David “Mason” Sheldon secured 3rd place.

Congratulations also to Dylan Villa for completing the mile swim, a rare accomplishment.

“Thank you to Mr. Bob Nakashian for attending Camp Cachalot for a week-his second season doing that with the Boy Scout Troop. Excellent job and we are all indebted to you,” said Troop 32 Scout Leader Doug Breault. “And finally, congratulations to all the boy scouts who made it through the entire week. It sounds like you all had a blast. That is quite an accomplishment for all involved. We are all proud of you.”

For more information on joining Marion Scouts, go to www.marionscouts.com.

On Saturday, July 21, the Marion Recreation Department hosted their Second Annual Classic Car Show on Silvershell Beach.  Check out the pictures below!  Photos by Katy Fitzpatrick.

The Marion Art Center, located at 80 Pleasant Street in Marion, MA is pleased to announce the opening of two exhibitions on Friday, July 20.  An opening reception will be held from 6:00 to 8:00 pm.

 Marion artist Joan DeRugeris will be exhibiting her paintings in the Cecil Clark Davis Gallery and Bess Woodworth, will be exhibiting in the Patsy Francis Gallery.  The two exhibitions will run from July 20 through August 21.

A member of the Copley Society, DeRugeris will feature a new collection of recent work which is a departure from what she has shown in earlier exhibits.  The past year and a half has been devoted to creating a series of landscapes, marsh scenes, walled cities, open fields and inlets, which are still in the impressionist style but with an atmospheric mood.

Of her work, DeRugeris says, “I believe that artists cannot exist without influences, it is however, how they use them to form an individual approach that separates one from the other.  Many strive to paint what they see, their hand and eyes becoming a camera. I like to see how far I can go from what I see or recall and break down the elements into pattern and design while still keeping the feel of what drew me to the subject to begin with.”

DeRugeris started her commercial art career in New York City’s garment industry. She received her degree from the State University of NY, Fashion Institute of Technology.  Joan then went on to head the art department of a leading textile consulting firm where she designed prints for the ready to wear and home furnishings market.

Joan’s commercial career continued with freelance design for Corning Glass, consumer products division. Upon leaving NY Joan taught watercolor painting through Delaware Technical and Community College, while also pursuing an exhibiting career.  After arriving in New England, Joan continued her studies in advanced painting at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

DeRugeris has been a Marion resident for more than 20 years and has exhibited widely throughout the East Coast.  Her paintings are in corporate and private collections throughout the US.

Boston artist Bess Woodworth’s watercolors will be exhibited in the Patsy Francis Gallery.  Bess grew up in the countryside outside Philadelphia, PA. As a child she attended a Waldorf School. The curriculum revolved around art. “Although I was unaware of this influence at the time, I began to develop my artistic talents twenty-five years after a successful career as a reading specialist.”

Of her work she says, “My strength is in color, form and value. In watercolor feelings from my heart can be expressed through the brush and medium to the sensitive paper surface, transforming my expression into the most direct, honest and true vision of the subject. My compositions produce an emotional mood. I am exploring relationships- in nature and between people. I have portrayed these relationships in shallow space often fracturing the images. I simplify shapes in order to make the gesture important.”

The themes of her paintings cover a variety of organic subjects; fog, birch trees, sea shells, plant life, reflections in water, mountains, atmosphere. She has also worked on a series of conceptual paintings about relationships.

She is an alumnus of the School of the Museum of Fine Art of Boston. She has been a volunteer in the education department of The Museum of Fine Arts of Boston touring groups of children through the museum.

Woodworth is a member of a number of art councils, and associations in the Boston area including the Copley Society, the New England Watercolor Society, the Southern Arizona Watercolor Guild and Tubac Center for the Art.

The Marion Art Center Gallery is open on Tuesday through Friday from 1:00pm to 5:00pm and on Saturdays from 10:00am until 2:00pm.  Admission is free and open to the public.

In just about a week, the world’s best athletes will travel to London to compete in the most prestigious athletics competition in the world. Despite training for their entire lives, the Olympic Games is an event that only a small fraction of athletes will ever get to experience. Geoff Smith, a Great Britain native and Mattapoisett resident, is one of the few elite athletes who has had the opportunity and honor of representing his country at the Olympics.

“I was overwhelmed,” said Smith about qualifying for the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. “I was over the moon.”

Smith isn’t your typical Olympic success story. While he grew up playing and excelling at most traditional sports, he never received formal training. He was around the age of 19 and working as a firefighter when he joined his first running club in 1976.

“You name a sport and I’ve done it. Rugby, cricket, track and field,” said Smith. “When I joined the running club, they saw me as a potential racer.”

After joining the club, the coaches put Smith on a four-year training plan in order to prepare him for the Moscow Olympics. The goal was to take 30 seconds off his time each year. Smith was out running every day, competing in races both locally and in Europe, and making a name for himself on the running circuit.

“I walked in off the streets and suddenly I was the best guy in the club,” said Smith. “I just tried my best. I’m super competitive at everything.”

By June of 1979, Smith was the fastest racer in the world in the 10,000-meter event after finishing with the fastest time at a dual meet in Northern England. But shortly after that race, Smith’s progress came to a screeching halt when he got shin splints prior to racing in the European Cup Semifinals.

Smith took the rest of the summer off from training, and in August, he went to see a specialist about his pain. The doctor recommended an exploratory surgery, and after the procedure was finished, he concluded that Smith has Compartment Syndrome, ultimately landing him in a cast from his foot to his hip until October.

“My leg was completely withered,” Smith said. “I went on vacation and sat on the beach with socks filled with sand doing leg raises every day for two weeks. When I got back, I started to run and got myself back quick.”

Smith’s hard work during rehabilitation paid off. When he attended the Olympics trials in 1980, he won his event with flying colors.

“It all sort of came together for the trials,” Smith said. “No one expected me to win, but I won by more than half of a lap.”

The 1980 Olympics marked Smith’s first large international race.

“You’re just excited,” he said. “I was just walking around looking at the stars.”

While Smith didn’t win a medal at the 1980 Games, he did walk away with a plethora of experience and only continued to grow as a runner. In 1983, he participated in the New York City Marathon, finishing in second place by just nine seconds off the leader. He won the Boston Marathon in both 1984 and 1985. In 1985, despite having to walk and stretch out due to cramps, he still won by five minutes with a time of 2:14:30.

Smith made one last trip to the World Championships in 1987. In 1989, he made the decision to reduce his races to 5K’s and 10K’s. While training one day, he fell and hurt his hip. When he went to the doctor’s office, the news he heard was startling. He had developed Arthritis.

“He told me I wouldn’t run anymore,” said Smith. “I went from being one of the top five runners in the world to being told I wouldn’t run anymore. I didn’t believe it.”

But by Christmas of that year, Smith knew he had to hang up his professional running career.  Luckily, he had completed a degree at Providence College, so he was able to work as a stockbroker for ten years before becoming a teacher in Mattapoisett. While he is not running competitively, he still coaches and serves as a motivational speaker to local groups.

Although he hasn’t run competitively in over 20 years on the elite level, the reason Smith fell in love with the sport still remains fresh in his mind.

“You feel so good,” he said. “Going out and running and feeling like you’re flying through the air. It’s like you’re invincible. That’s the best thing about running.”

For more information on Geoff Smith, visit www.geoffsmithrun.com.

By Katy Fitzpatrick