Trash talking

If you scoot over to the side-bar on the right there, you will see a new graphic. Email trash-talk has spilled out into the public domain and here at the TurnAround we are only too willing to give it an airing and maybe even stoke the flame. Mwah ha ha!

In the red corner (the predominant colour of the MacDougall tartan) we have Ron "McIntrepid" MacDougall, the man who will do a marathon on any given, random Sunday purely because he hasn't done one yet this week. This guy has more dossards in a drawer at home than TNS has in it's stash at the office. He has so many numbers written on his arm over the course of the summer that his farmers' tan is less a line than a palimplest. You get our drift.

In the blue corner, we have Cookie Monster, Mark "the Mule" Campbell; past-president of TNS, multi-race-organizer and guy with the largest number of Ironman completed under his number belt than any other Nova Scotia athlete, past or present. This is the guy who does Ironman as training for other things, things like E2C and TransRockies. Not to mention doing the 280km Cabot Trail Relay in an ever-decreasing team.

The smack-down is quite simple; Tartan Tally or Cookie Counter?

If you don't mind, the TurnAround will act as TD for the event. Normal rules apply. We'd like to see sportsmanlike conduct; no spitting, gratuitous elbows, coarse language, blows below the belt or sticks in the spokes. To qualify for the counter/tally, the "event" must have issued a bib-number, bike-number, body-marking, timing chip, Popsicle stick or the sport-appropriate equivalent. We'll accept anything as long as this is done. A multi-day event will be counted as multiple events as long as there is a break (or maybe a sleep) between the events. Transrockies; six legs in six days, would be six events. E2C, a 24 hr orienteering event run off in one go will be one event. In the event of a disagreement, the gray area will be resolved by the Competition Jury, namely by polling all of you.

In case the Tartan Tally and the Cookie Counter are tied come December, we'll need a decider; a Ron vs Mark cage-fight perhaps. Or maybe a time-trial! Or competitive coffee drinking? We're leaning toward a combination cage/coffee/TT but we'll let you decide if it comes to that!

Yes, we acknowledge that by merely ("merely", ha!) counting the number of races, and not the type of race, we are giving equal weight to, say, a 5 K and an Ironman. Here at the TurnAround we are not distance snobs, and recognise racing for racing's sakes. It doesn't have to be long to be a meaningful sporting achievement.

At the time of publication it's (we think) 14-12 to the Tartan Tally, with Mark making a swift comeback after the Cabot Trail to do both Cyclesmith and the Muffin run. So good luck guys and may the best man win. Plus, it's going to make an awesome end-of-season graphic!

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