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I

t’s been three years since the incantation, “Eat More Croaker. Eat More Croaker. Eat More Croaker” rose up over Lupton Park on the first Saturday in July. But it was in the air again this weekend as a record turnout of runners, bikers and bladers welcomed the return of the Croaker Relay to Oriental’s Croakerfest celebration.

Croaking again. The first wave of contestants in Saturday’s 4 × 1 mile Croaker Relay. No one could start until they had chanted, “Eat More Croaker”, three times. Then they were off, toting a plywood croaker for a mile.

Organizer Turtle Midyette says over thirty teams took part, more than had done so before the Croaker Relay went on a three-year hiatus.

The familiar elements were there. The fire hydrant at Third and Mildred was cracked open and nozzled, so that the spray arced over the start and finish line.

Christie Foster and daughter Ruby take off on one leg of the race. Ruby’s brother Abe had just completed one lap with his mother.

Also in keeping with tradition, each of the teams was was given a croaker — a plywood fish about a foot long. They were Awlgripped white, blue and red, and some had a dash of non-skid ‘scales’. These croakers were passed from teammate to teammate in the 4 × 1 mile race.

One of the jiggier pass-offs in the relay.

However, this being the Croaker Relay, those croaker batons had another, more important purpose.

The last time the relay was run, Buddy Kelly’s family won. He did three or four laps, one of them on foot, with a younger team mate.

The top honors in this event does not go to speediest team to dash across the finish line. Instead, the winner is determined after the race by way of the Croaker Toss.

Crossing the finish line in the Croaker Relay gets you wet. But no medal. There’s still the Croaker Toss competition.

The toss is the defining characteristic of this race and just before the teams set out on their runs/rolls/and cycles, Turtle Midyette announced the nature of this year’s Toss: teams would be called upon to present their most creative interpretation of a croaker toss. That, Turtle said, was something the teams could think about while they ran.

They rose to the occasion, as you’ll see on the next page.

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Posted Monday July 7, 2008 by Melinda Penkava

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