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For the first time in Troup County history, a school not named Long Cane hosted a GreenPower elementary event. On Saturday, it was Clearview Elementary’s time to shine as the school hosted the biggest national Greenpower Goblin race event ever held in the state of Georgia. 

“At Clearview, our motto is better together and as I walk around and watch all these teams interact and help each other I think it furthers the message that we are all better together,” Clearview principal Shannah Mabry said. “They are competing against each other but also lifting each other up.”

There were 225 student participants from 21 teams competing as people flocked to Clearview to put on quite an event, an event that could not happen without the presence of Matthew Graham, who continues to be a leader for the GreenPower race teams throughout Troup County and the surrounding areas.

“Matthew Graham was a big part of organizing and really the major key player in bringing all of this together,” Mabry said.

Saturday was a special occasion for the host school, which got a chance to build community through a fun day of racing.

“Everybody at the school has been so excited about this event,” Mary said. “We have teachers out, students out, and it is good to see everybody come out and support this happening at our school.”  

Saturday’s race featured a strong local flavor with 10 teams representing eight local schools — Berta Weathersbee Elementary, Clearview Elementary, Ethel Kight Elementary, Franklin Forest Elementary, Hillcrest Elementary, Hollis Hand Elementary, Long Cane Elementary and Rosemont Elementary. It was the first event for Hollis Hand, which finished tenth in its first race as a program, showing signs of what the program can be in the future. For the host school, this is the program’s first year in existence. 

It was a good showing for the local teams with Franklin Forest finishing third overall while Berta Weathersbee finished sixth and one of the Rosemont teams (737) finished seventh overall. 

Rosemont shined in the presentation department with all three teams finishing in the top-10 for presentation scores including car 822, which won that category. Franklin Forest also earned a top-10 finish in presentation. 

Berta Weathersbee, Franklin Forest, Rosemont 737, Clearview and Hollis Hand all finished in the top-10 for the drag race portion. 

Franklin Forest stole the show in the circuit race, beating out Phenix City by over .3 of a second. Rosemont 737, Hollis Hand, Berta Weathersbee and Hillcrest all finished top-10 in the circuit race. 

Rosemont 737 and 822 are third and fourth in the national standings and just a little ways back from the top two teams in the standings. Berta Weathersbee, Rosemont 227, Clearview, and Ethel Kight are all in the top-10 of the national standings as well. 

This is not the final GreenPower even of the school year in Troup County with the fifth annual Diverse Power Grand Prix at LaGrange College scheduled for April 15. The event is expected to host about 40 teams from across the southeast, including local teams from Gardner Newman Middle, Long Cane Middle, Callaway Middle, Troup High School, Callaway High School and Thinc Academy.