Last year was one of peaks and valleys, highs and lows, historic change at the ballot box and wild uncertainty in the stock market. We have cheap gas, but aren't sure where to go.

Perhaps the proper path is to follow the everyday citizens who forge ahead, mindless of the cynicism and darkness around them. Here then are my personal picks for the best in local recreation in 2008 -- coaches, athletes and citizens who illuminate a brighter path for us all.

Water, Water ... Nowhere

Throughout 2007, much of North Carolina remained in the worst of five drought categories, and while rains last spring mitigated dread, local agencies were hardly complacent. Forward-thinking administrators kept playing fields available and had already prepped swimming pools for use in case the drought persisted in 2008. This foresight and preparation earns these leaders my 2008 Community Involvement award.

"What we did is put together plans to help us continue operations even if we didn't have water," Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation Director Butch Kisiah said last year. "I don't think we were in panic mode, because you just can't do anything about the weather. You learn to live with it."

Next time it rains, listen carefully. Notice how much the splatter of rain sounds like applause?

Feeling the Loss

Recreation lost a number of memorable personalities in 2008.

Sportswriter and tennis fiend Mary Garber covered sports mostly in the Winston-Salem area, but the impact she had on journalism, writers and athletes was felt throughout the state. Born in 1916, Garber was to be commonly known as the "Dean of Women Sportswriters," and was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. She died in 2008.

Local runners still feel the absence of Cardinal Track Club co-founder Bobby Biles, who co-owned Carrboro's Fleet Feet Sports with his wife Rona Van Willigen and moved with her to New Mexico to operate another Fleet Feet location. Cardinal's annual Thanksgiving Day 5-mile race has been renamed the "Double B" (Bobby Biles) Gallop and Gorge in honor of the Biles' legacy.

Lastly, running enthusiast Bruce Hertzberg died Dec. 31 at age 63. A masters age-group sprinter, Hertzberg was a 1964 Olympic Trials long jumper. A former volunteer coach with the Pacers Youth Running Club, and often a figure at Godiva Summer Series track meets, Hertzberg will be missed as a fellow athlete and a friend to the community.

First Things First

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes of a tragedy, the Eve Marie Carson Memorial 5K road race gets my nod as the Best Inaugural Event of 2008, and for all the right and wrong reasons. Run in memory of former UNC Student Body President Eve Carson, who was murdered last March, the race registered 2,191 people who ran or walked in the event and raised $23,500, making it an amazing success. Members of Phi Delta Theta and Pi Beta Phi organized the event and worked with more than 200 volunteers on race day. The road race was the most productive event thus far benefitting the Eve Marie Carson Scholarship fund.

Blow Out the Candles

See Jane Run hit 10 years old. Founded in 1998 by 1996 U.S. Olympian Joan Nesbit Mabe, the "Janes" comprise 50 to 60 female runners who mix motherhood, community involvement, fitness and fun.

"They're all well-educated, they're all highly motivated to be good mothers, and to be a good mother or father, you have to live a good life -- to be a good example," Nesbit Mabe said, calling the Janes a "silent force in our community."

Hush ...

The Best Kept Secret of 2008 was the Orange County Speedway in rural Rougemont. The site is the old Trico Motor Speedway, which was built in the early 1960s. Originally a dirt facility, the track was paved and is currently a 3/8-mile asphalt, high-banked oval. The Speedway's sweeping turns allow for side-by-side racing, complete with a bit of bumping.

The speedway also plays host to the Orange County Relay for Life Race for the Cure, Tar Heel Rally-cross events, bicycle time trials, Boy Scout Jamborees and other charity functions.

Visit the Orange County Speedway's Web site at www.ocstrack.com for more information, or call them at (336) 364-1222.

The Long Run

This year's winner of my 2008 Lifetime Achievement is the Carolina Godiva Track Club's summer track-and-field series, which temporarily moved to UNC's Belk Track last summer due to renovations at other area tracks.

Formed in 1975 for long-distance runners, Godiva started its summer track series a couple years later. Godiva is still running strong, and its annual summer track series has come full circle.

Running on Wednesday nights at 7 p.m. rain or shine (but not lightning), the meets offer a slate of running events, which alternate every other week. Events are for all-comers, though a $1 donation is appreciated by the meet organizers.

Net Worth

The Best Performance in a Supporting Role in 2008 goes to Patti Fox, not just for the strides made as coach of the varsity girls' tennis program at Carrboro High School, but for her love of the sport as reflected by the grassroots initiatives she's tirelessly spearheaded.

Between last year's QuickStart Tennis Tournament to annual Hispanic Tennis Carnivals run by the Durham-Orange Tennis Association, Fox is seemingly the ubiquitous wizard behind the curtain. Her impact cannot yet be quantified, but count the number of adults on area tennis courts over the coming years, and you'll likely find that the person who first put a racquet in their hands may well have been Fox.

Performance Plus

Best Performance by a Female goes to Judy Swasey, a marathon runner and nurse practitioner with UNC's Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center's Breast Cancer Program, who eight years ago founded a free, 14-week program to help sedentary women initiate and maintain a regular exercise program.

Her female runners' group, Sole Sisters, has successfully reflected a clarion call for hundreds of local women, helping them overcome inertia and dedicate themselves to a new, healthier lifestyle that often includes entry in the annual Race For The Cure.

"We've already had a five-year reunion," she said. "I think we've had about 700 or 800 women in all go through the program. That's a lot of people we've impacted."

Social Climbing

Calvin Wagner is, quite simply, hitting the heights in prodigious style. At age 12, Wagner won the junior division (13-and-under) of the Triple Crown Bouldering Series in 2008 by scoring victories in three component events. The son of Chapel Hill's Kellie and Craig Wagner, Calvin is a Culbreth Middle School student and my choice for 2008's Best Male Performance.

His cumulative three-event score was also the highest ever for a junior, and he won this year's overall series title with 10,339 points -- more than 1,400 points ahead of the runner-up.

Honorable mention for Best Performance goes to the Carrboro Cougars 9-10 rec football squad, who ran through their regular season undefeated at 6-0. Like all of the park and recreation squads in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, the Cougars competed in Central Piedmont Youth Football League (CPYFL) play. All three Carrboro squads qualified for the playoffs, but the Cougars also notched a 19-12 playoff victory versus Liberty to qualify for an Eastern Division championship game in Siler City.

Enter, Learn, Return

My vote for 2008 Event of the Year goes to the big event with the cryptic name: The Philosopher's Way Trail Runs. Staged by the local Trailheads off-road enthusiasts, the event runs through the forest north of Chapel Hill's Horace Williams Airport. Hundreds of runners participated in the inaugural Philosopher's Way 15K and 7K last spring, hosted by Carolina North Forest Management.

Inviting runners to "Enter-Learn-Return," the event promoted awareness of the forest, UNC's active management program, and provided participants and local community members a chance to connect with the natural resource that is the 750 acres of tranquil natural oasis nestled between Chapel Hill and Carrboro.

On The Upswing

While the outlook has been fairly bleak on the nightly news as seen on our billboard-sized LCD screens, perhaps the view is clearer and a bit brighter -- locally and in person -- on the fields of Anderson Park in Carrboro, alongside the waters of Chapel Hill's new Aquatic Center, in the plans for a new YMCA Youth Center, or in the pristine solitude of Chapel Hill North's still-undeveloped woodlands.

Maybe there, and from where I sit, 2009 looks clear and hopeful.

Contact Randy B. Young at chnsports@nando.com or at (919) 932-8743.