Trail Days Keeps Legacy Alive

On a chilly morning in November, a small army of students, staff, and local community members gathered at the Campus Center for some coffee, fresh cider donuts, and trailblazing camaraderie. They had come for the annual Community Trails Day, when Marlboro’s trails are cleared and buffed up for another winter of cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. Paramount in their minds were the trails used for February’s Wendell-Judd Cup.

Named for former staff and longtime trustee Ted Wendell and legendary American studies professor Dick Judd, the annual cross-country ski race has been going on since 1965, when Dick wittily named it the first annual Ted Wendell “Memorial” Cup because Ted was going away to graduate school. “Memorial” was dropped when Ted rejoined the college as a dean of students, and when Dick died in 2007 his name was added. The annual Wendell-Judd Cup remains one of Marlboro’s most celebrated traditions, made possible by the hard work of community members that chilly morning in November.