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ore than a hundred people paid tribute Saturday morning to the mighty croaker with a running — and tossing — at the 2010 Croaker Relay. The first Croaker event of the day — a race that’s not quite a race and this year — features not only the passing of the many plywood fish batons, but also the passing of a torch.

Passing the croaker baton near the opened fire hydrant on Third Avenue.

Forty-eight teams with up to four contestants ran — or biked, or skateboarded or scootered — a one mile course through town, four times. The baton that teammates passed — a tropically painted plywood croaker — would come in to play even more after the four miles.

The team, “Sailors Not Runners” ran the race and afterward, crawled in a literal ‘catwalk’. From left, sisters Alexis and Nicole Edwards and sisters Kara and Emma Wheeler. Their effort concluded with a human slingshot.

As organizer Turtle Midyette reminded the contestants, it ultimately didn’t matter which team crossed the finish line first. In keeping with the Croaker Relay Tradition — which is either 13 or 14 years old, (Turtle was unsure) — the winner is determined in the contest that takes place after the running, in what’s come to be called, the Croaker Toss.

Turtle Midyette explains the rules and loopholes such as the shortcut runners could take down Mildred Street to halve the distance of the one mile lap.

Turtle told the crowd Saturday morning that he’d come up with this year’s croaker toss competition after “watching World Cup Soccer and NCAA shot putting competitions and reading a few fashion magazines.” The resulting challenge: contestants had to walk an imaginary model’s “catwalk” before tossing the plywood croaker. For the toss, they could use their heads or a part of the body above the waist, but, as with soccer, it was implied the could not use their hands. And points would be given for style.

Straighten those shoulders. Friends Sharon Forman and Jennifer Smart in step one of their team’s effort. Their husbands took part in step two, lifting and then tossing the croakers with their teeth.(PG-13 image after the jump on page 2.)

The teams came through with a variety of interpretations of super-model walk. Some sauntered, all hips forward and straight backs. One winning interpretation took the term “catwalk” literally: four teenage girls meowed as they crawled along the grass before using one of their members as a human sling-shot.

The “Sailors Not Runners” team Alexis and Nicole Edwards and Kara and Emma Wheeler implemented a human slingshot – Nicole – to toss their croaker.

Sharing first place honors were the team calling themselves the Not-So-Flying Hawaiians (aka the Duffie family) which had a winning dental toss.

The Not-So-Flyin’ Hawaiians prepare to toss.

Meanwhile, a visitor from Raleigh turned the catwalk in to a dog-walk. He put the croaker in the mouth of Mollie, a yellow Lab, led her by the leash past all of the other croakers on the ground and then gave the command to drop the plywood fish from her mouth. In the final round, Derek Murray and Mollie took third place.

As one plywood croaker went aloft, it was seen more easily against the backdrop of the balloon croaker on its way to the parade route.

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Many of the contestants were repeat relayers — and repeat tossers — for whom the Croaker Relay is a key part of their Croaker-Festivities. The Howe family of Cary brought a string of croakers from relays past. Also competing was Louis Anderson of Charlotte, who even in the few years when there wasn’t a Croaker Relay, has run the course anyway. (He may’ve been on his own in carrying out the toss those years…)

Louis Anderson of Charlotte tries to run the Croaker Relay every year. Twice in the last decade when there was no official Croaker Relay, Louis ran the 4 miles through the streets of Oriental, anyway. Louis was also visiting his mother Marjorie Goff of Oriental.

After the croaker toss was over, Turtle Midyette shared with the crowd that he’d been attending Croakerfests since they began thirty years ago. Next year would be different for him and his wife, Robin, he announced. “We’re going to the mountains.”

Next year, somewhere else. Turtle Midyette and his wife, Robin Carburry.

Immediately, several people stepped forward to say they would fill in for him and organize the 2011 Croaker Relay. Nancy Piner, Sandy Pugh and Doug Sligh will be making the croaker batons and dreaming up next year’s Croaker Toss competition.

Croaker Relay Organizers for 2011: Nancy Piner, Sandy Pugh and Doug Sligh.

For more photos of the Croaker Toss and the road section of the Croaker Relay, see the following pages of photos.

Registration at the Croaker Relay is simple. Add your name to a list on a piece of cardboard and pick one of the croaker batons on the table.

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The Asphalt Portion of the Relay.

Usually, a fire hydrant is opened and its flow forms an arc across Third Avenue. But because it was unseasonably cool, the water was set in such a way that the runners, walkers, skateboarders and bikers could stay dry if they wanted to. Nonetheless, the water provided a dramatic backdrop.

Lester Pace of Burlington ran all four laps himself. A frequent visitor to Oriental, Lester is in training for a triathalon in Alamance County later this month. We’re guessing there’ll be no croaker baton there

Another solo runner was John Hines, III of Bowie, Maryland. He was in town visiting his grandfather, John Hines.

Laurie Sampson, instructor at the Bow to Stern Sailing School takes a moment inside the hydrant arc after finishing her lap.

There was a skateboard, some scooters, bicycles and also, this coming through the water….

Don Staub and son Bora cross under the water arc on their way to another lap.

Elizabeth Sligh, an instructor at the Bow to Stern Sailing Camp, takes the croaker and runs.

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The Catwalk:

Pamela Howe walks the walk while her husband Tracy takes the role of fashion photographer. The Howes, of Cary, are veterans of the Croaker Relay and came to the event with a small skein of croaker batons from years past.

The rules, such as they were, said that contestants could toss the croaker using a part of the body above the waist. It was implied that as in soccer, use of the hands was not allowed. In this instance, the contestant hoisted another person above his shoulders to give the croaker a toss.

Sharon Forman and Jennifer Smart delicately balanced the croakers for a few steps. Then their husbands offered dollar bills before — as Danny Forman does here — delicately removing the croaker with their teeth in preparation for the toss.

One croaker already tossed from the teeth of Danny Forman. Another, about to go airborne from Tim Balfour.

The winning style of the human slingshot team.

The girls did it again in the finals round. They tied for first place.

Dogwalk on the catwalk. Mollie the dog walking steadily past the other croakers, before dropping hers on command from Derek Murray of Raleigh (For the fashion observers, those are Derek’s red shorts at right.)

From the Not-So-Flying Hawaiian team, first the entrance, then the toss.

Sandy Pugh and Nancy Piner doing the exaggerated model walk. A few steps later, they flipped their croakers from their heads. They are part of the team putting together next year’s Croaker Relay. As this photo may suggest, it’s a good bet the spirit of the event will carry on.

Croaker Batons of years past.

Posted Wednesday July 7, 2010 by Melinda Penkava