Battle for local bragging rights

Bob Reid
Published: July 19, 2008

Hear ye, hear ye, all residents of Culpeper, Madison and Orange counties age 4 to 79: now is the time to begin getting in shape to help your county bring home the Winners’ Trophy from this year’s Tri-County Track Meet.

The meet will be held at the Culpeper County High School track Sept. 13 from 8 a.m. to noon. Running events (the 50-meter, 100-meter, 200-meter and 400-meter dashes and 800-meter and the one-mile runs) will be electronically timed and three field events (long jump, shot put and softball throw) will be added to this year’s competition.

Males will compete in their age bracket (4-6, 7-8, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, 15-18, 19-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-54, 55-59, 60-64, 65-69, 70-74, 75-79) and females will do likewise.

For each event, the winner in each age bracket will be awarded a medal and will earn three points for their county. Second place will earn and medal and two points and third place a nedal and one point. At the end of the meet the name of the county with the most points will be engraved on the trophy and it will belong to that county until the 2009 competition.

This year’s meet will be the third in the history of organized competition between the children, adults and senior citizens of these three counties. Madison hosted the 2006 and 2007 meets and won both by large margins.

In 2006 Madison finished with 142 points, Culpeper 68 and Orange 24. In 2007 Madison won with 217, Culpeper had 64 and Orange finished with 33. This is not to say that Madison has the best athletes. They dominated those two meets because the number of Madison County competitors far outnumbered those of Culpeper and Orange. In fact, Orange has finished third both years, but had the highest number of points per competitor.

With this year’s meet being held in Culpeper will Madison continue to dominate the number of competitors and claim the Winners’ Trophy for the third straight year? Or will Culpeper be able to use home field advantage and put their name on the trophy? Will Orange, proud of its history of athletic victories, get fed up with finishing last, come to this year’s meet in force and take home a year of bragging rights?

The county that shows up with the most participants will most likely be the winner. Having a large number of enthusiastic supporters will also motivate your county’s participants to do their best.

Sept. 13. Culpeper County High School. Will you be there? Entry forms are available now at the Tri-County Track and Field Meet Web site, (culpeperruritans.org) and at the Star-Exponent, Madison Eagle and Orange Review newspaper offices, the Culpeper and Orange Parks and Recreation offices and the Madison Facilities and Recreation office.

The cost to participate in this family friendly and health improving activity is just $1 per event. Register now and get ready to help your county bring home the trophy.

Bob Reid is the director of the Tri-County Track Meet.