Christine Ganz, president of Eden Athletics, reported that the group’s Web site is temporarily down after someone hacked into the Eden Athletics’ site and destroyed it on Feb. 18.

The allegations come amidst a longtime feud between the two groups. “There is known bad blood between us,” said Crow Athletics President Gary Allen. “Eden Athletics is crying wolf.”

Officer Shaun Farrar confirmed that Eden’s Web site was accessed from a computer at College of the Atlantic. “The Web site was accessed and destroyed,” he said.

“The allegations of hacking are completely untrue,” said Mr. Allen. “We have documented administrative access to the Eden Athletics Web site.”

That documentation has been given to the police, who confirm that the Web site was not hacked, but was accessed.

A substantial amount of data was deleted from the Eden Athletics Web site. “We lost countless hours of time and effort, photos of races and event reports,” said Ms. Ganz. As far as culpability goes, “the police have identified a person and a particular computer. This person and possibly another involved person will be charged,” she said.

Mary Ropp, a COA student who works with Crow Athletics, “feels really bad about the allegations. She was just doing her job,” said Mr. Allen. “If Eden Athletics didn’t want her accessing their site, they should have revoked her access.” Ms. Ropp manages six or seven Web sites. “She had a right to add and remove content,” said Mr. Allen.

Eden Athletics’ Wed site editor, Brian Hubbel, originally was a member of Crow Athletics. Both organizations’ Web sites operate on a multiple administrator system. According to Mr. Allen, when Mr. Hubbel was a member of Crow Athletics, he deleted content and locked out several of Crow Athletics’ Web site administrators. “I can’t believe we are being accused of this; he’s the one that deleted information from our Web site without authorization,” said Mr. Allen. “Instead of apologizing, he left and started Eden Athletics. They were formed from a bad seed.”

Eden Athletics sees the issue from a different angle. When asked why someone would vandalize Eden’s Web site, Ms. Ganz said, “I don’t know, that’s a question for them.”

She said Mr. Hubbel “was online and noticed that the Web site was being hacked. Fortunately, he was able to stop it.” After he did his best to control the damage, Mr. Hubbel contacted the police, she said.

The organization’s former domain name, edenathletics.com, has been completely broken said Ms. Ganz. “But we remain alive and kicking.” Webmaster Peter Kenlan has relocated the Web site temporarily to edenathletics.dreamhosters.com. “After about a half an hour after our new Web site went up, we had six or seven posts,” said Ms. Ganz. “Our community is very cohesive.” Eden Athletics will be operating from its temporary Web address until further notice.

“I’m about running,” said Mr. Allen. “I don’t know why they are so negative.” He said he thinks Eden Athletics has a vendetta against Crow Athletics, pointing to their temporary Web site’s message board. “You don’t see negative comments on our Web site,” he said.

A review of both Web sites on Wednesday morning turned up no negative comments on either one.

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