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Show Surprise Entrant, Shasta, Threw the Race By W. D. McArthur The race does not always go to the fastest" is an old Mying and in last Saturday's ( Mini-Marathon it may have ben true. One of the Participants in the contest deliberately allowed another to 8 through the wire ahead of "im thus in effect "throwing the race." This was the "ntest in which endur-aice endur-aice counted more than speed bu each person in the race as matching his endurance gainst a clock and all of those finishing were winners. As the 21 participants lined UP n State 128 another C("itestant quietly joined Without first registering. No 0ne m particular paid much '"ention to him but as the race '8an he picked a runner Jhead of him as a pacer and ran behind him the entire 13.2 I11!" frm Castle Valley to the hrf Hne- "ear the Li0" S I He never complained or Pped to rest even though ne Pacer ahead of him when pSsin8 a Gator-Stop would e advantage of the refrcsh-ent refrcsh-ent offed by slowing down enough to reach out a hand and grasp a liquid. A quick gulp of the contents were swallowed or spit out by the pacer but the volunteer was never offered this bit of refreshment. With tongue hanging out, mouth open and all four feet picking up and laying down ' Shasta followed the leader ahead of him, keeping to the off side of the road and thus avoiding the cars approaching or passing. He refused all offers of a ride, but acknowledged acknowl-edged the kindness by turning his eyes toward the speaker in the car. What made Shasta decide to enter the marathon is unknown un-known and why he chose to follow someone who was not his owner is something he will never tell and even though he could have crossed the finish line first he stayed behind far enough to place second. The winner crossed the finish line with arms outstretched out-stretched but Shasta spied a seep of water along side the road and even if it were not pure enough to pass health standards, he drank deep and gratefully before deciding it was fit to bathe in. Sopping wet and feeling frisky he joined the group at the winners circle vigorously shaking shak-ing the extra water from his long brown fur coat. Shasta came near being a casualty as a camper with Nevada license plates drove through a little faster than safe under the conditions prevailing prevail-ing at the time. Shasta was in the center of the highway with others when the vehicle came through and hit him on the stern end. Luckily all that was hurt was his feelings and he soon joined a group of youngsters climbing the area above the finish line near Matrimonv Springs. i i ! Shasta started with the field and kept up all the way, coming in as an unofficial second in the mini-marathon jogging event sponsored May 1 by the Chamber of Commerce. He is shown here crossing the "finish line" just after the first-place winner, tongue hanging, looking just like some of the 2-legged runners felt. |