I wasn’t careful in what I wished for

A C ERTAIN POINT OF V IEW

By and large, I like covering cross country meets. Jogging around to the different points on the course feels a bit more active than most of the other sports I cover, which makes me feel slightly better about how inconsistent my running schedule gets once the school year starts. The courses are always different, so it’s always interesting to see how that will play a part in the competition, and a lot of them have at least a little nature to enjoy while you wait for the runners to reach an area where you can actually see them. It’s a different atmosphere than the constant stream of gymnasiums that dominate winter sports or even something like football or baseball where, while they are outside, the field of play is generally pretty similar no matter where you go.

My trip to Levis Mound for the Cloverbelt conference meet this past Saturday initially looked like it was going to do little to dissuade me from these conceptions.While the runners may have liked it a little cooler, the sunny weather was absolutely beautiful from a spectator’s standpoint. My grumblings about it being cold out earlier in the week were long forgotten; I hadn’t covered a conference meet with this kind of weather, so I was going to enjoy the abnormally warm October morning. Add to the mix a scenic display of oranges, yellows and reds all across the wooded course and it was pretty much what I would consider a perfect fall day.

Or so I had thought. You see, it was not just myself that was invigorated by the sudden heat wave. I did not really take notice as I swatted a gnat or two away as I made my way out onto the course before the first race, but that would very quickly change. By the time the girls’ runners made it to the first mile marker, I was beginning to note how a group of the small black bugs had begun to swarm in the sunny spot I had staked out. They were mildly annoying and, after the last of the runners passed by, I was grateful to be moving away.

As I trudged through the small strip of trees to my next spot to take pictures, I seemed to have lost the swarm of critters and was able to snap a few photos free of the bugs. Forgetting they had even really been a problem, I moved back to the final stretch, which along the same route as where the gnats had been before.

The problem had only worsened in my absence. As I approached, I noticed several spectators suddenly swing wildly in front of their faces, attempting to shoo the growing swarms away from them. The fact that the warmth would also bring the bugs out had not really been a consideration I had taken coming into the day, but by the end of the girls’ race, I was beginning to wish that I had brought some bug spray.

By the boys race, I was beginning to doubt that bug spray would have made any difference. It was almost comical to see so many people lined up along the course's edge swatting away at the swarms as they tried to cheer for their respective runners without accidentally getting a mouthful of gnats. Almost comical, but I could not really appreciate the absurdity of it while being in the midst of the problem myself.

By the time the boys race was coming to a close, I had basically adopted the tactic of constantly looking down the viewfinder of my camera, even if no Colby/Abby runners were in sight. At least with my one eye glued to the camera and the other closed, the gnats couldn’t get to them, though based on the number that continued to kamikaze themselves into my face, it wasn’t from a lack of trying.

Once the race ended, I trudged back up the path to the starting area where the awards would be given out and found that the bug problem was near non-existent. Had I just picked the worst stretch on the entire course to set up to grab pictures? Maybe. But I was just happy to be free of the nasty critters.

I had been lamenting the cold weather, but I suppose this just goes to show that there are pluses and minuses to everything. With a little milder forecast for this coming weekend, I certainly won’t mind the lack of feeling like I’m being eaten alive at the sectional meets in Colby.

NATHANIEL U NDERWOOD REPORTER

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