WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – Several members of the University of Hartford men's and women's cross country and track and field teams joined forces with local middle school children on April 24 and participated in Riverfront Recapture.

Riverfront Recapture is a private, non-profit organization that is leading the effort to reconnect metropolitan Hartford with the Connecticut River and provide access to the waterfront through four parks in Hartford and East Hartford. The network of parks and public recreational facilities draw hundreds of thousands of visitors to the ever-improving waterfront every year.

The goals of Riverfront Recapture are to restore access to the Connecticut River through the development of parks and public facilities that improve the quality of life of people who live and work in Metro Hartford, to recapture an attractive destination for both visitors and residents, and to encourage economic development in Metro Hartford by leveraging public investment in Riverfront Parks to attract private investment to neighboring property which in turn helps create jobs and revitalize the region.

Student-athletes collaborated with children from a local middle school and helped restore Riverside Park, located in Hartford. Together they mulched around the park's ropes course, painted storage trailers that were polluted with graffiti, removed fallen branches, and picked up garbage.