Cowbell kids and woot-woot women

Rogue photos - The Coastal Delaware Running Festival was held over two days this past weekend, and unless you were shut in, you just had to pass lots of runners doing a 5K (531), 9K (475), half marathon (895) or full marathon (630). Runners know about loops; otherwise, they’d never come back. But I was totally out of the loop on this one. Perhaps I’m getting loopy? I discovered late by accident about the races, so decided I’d snap some Sunday marathon photos but stay away from the start and finish on the Boardwalk at Rehoboth Avenue. I got my motor drive running, shooting photos on the trail at Herring Point at the six-mile mark, then drove to Wolfe Neck Road down the street from catawampus crooked northbound Wawa to catch the runners at mile 22 for some agony and ecstasy photos. There was a sign on the Junction & Breakwater trail at mile 22 that read “live archery area except on Sundays.” I thought of Steve Martin playing the banjo with an arrow through his head. I captured the winner Dylan Smiley (2:25:36) leading at 6 and 22 miles, and first woman Jennifer Karkoska (2:57:29). The order doesn’t change much over 26 miles; it just takes a long time to prove it. My own personal marathon day: I took 1,600 photos – committed to four hours – then spent from NFL kickoff at 1 p.m. to halftime of the 4 p.m. games to process photos and post albums to Facebook. My economic model of “free and overpriced” is immune to runaway inflation and supply chain stagnation. 

Choir boy wins Georgia Open - Anthony Caruso, 141-pound weight class, a sophomore wrestling for Midway University in Midway, Ky., won the 141 title at the 28-team Georgia Open this past weekend. Anthony is a junior with sophomore eligibility because of the lost COVID year. He was a two-time state champion and four-time finalist for Cape and coach Chris Mattioni, and straight out of Beacon for coach Patrick Irelan. I said of Anthony: “He looks like the choir boy, but if the church burns down, go find him.” Anthony was the most uncanny, tortuous grappler I ever photographed. I used to rotate the photos just to see how he did it. Wrestling is a great high school sport, but few achieve next-level success, just too many freakishly good guys.  

Cowbell blues - The canopy that covered the Junction & Breakwater Trail was peacefully silent Sunday morning. The sounds were soft, then the cowbell kids showed up along with the woot-woot women. In the real world, if you’re walking down a path and kids start ringing cowbells, don’t take it as a compliment. The cowbells were courtesy of Focus Multisports and Madcow Rick Hundley. I saw a big-winged hawk in the treetops circling like it was looking for wounded animals. Sharing the ecosystem, there was even a place for me to nestle. Woot! Woot! 

Costen Shockley - I covered the Delmar versus Caravel game Saturday morning at Champions Stadium. I looked across the field and saw Costen Shockley, grandfather of Ella, a Delmar senior player on her way to West Chester. Costen played for the Phillies in 1964 and Angels in 1965. I walked straight across the pitch at halftime like I owned it. “Hey, Mr. Fred,” Costen said. And then we talked about field hockey and the great games played when Cape and Delmar stepped onto the field to battle. I had just read earlier in the day how Eric Clapton, 76, and Chevy Chase, 74, had become bitter and hard-to-like old guys. Then there’s Biden and Trump. You can find their A games on someone else's test paper. But Costen, 79, and Fredman, 75, we are simpatico and in harmony with our late-life landing zones, just watching kids play sports and being there if they need us.  

Snippets - Caesar Rodney football (0-10) goes to the state tournament to play at Sussex Central (5-5) Friday night at 7 p.m. The Riders have a chance to be 0-11, and I’m not unsure if that's a good idea; I know it's not. Cape (1-9) plays at Appoquinimink (5-5) Saturday night at 7 p.m. Cape has horses, but unfortunately many of them are hobbled and will not play. My next sport is waiting to see when winter sports teams will post rosters by numbers. Go on now, git!