Now that Fritz has agreed once again to set the courses for Quantrill's at the Pendleton's corn maze, a great deal of pre-race speculation may take place! Apparently some of the delay was consternation on the part of Fritz that the maze had but one entrance and exit and how could that possibly be? Now that this detail has been cleared up, we expect to be hearing more coursesetting notes in the days ahead. Will this be the longest corn maze event ever, and, more importantly, is Fritz really serious about the 2pm start time?

Who has the right stuff? A few weeks ago it seemed like most of the smart money was all lined up behind Spike taking home another Quantrill's victory at the X-fish this year. No real surprise there; Spike is a proven corn maze walker! But yesterday a chink in the armor suddenly appeared... Reportedly Spike suffered a hot weather meltdown during training. Is Spike really good to go another grueling Quantrill's if the mercury tops 100?

Many of the pundits are siding with Mean Gene who, as the weather has grown hotter and hotter, has been training longer and longer. His 4.5-hour bike ride of last week certainly did not help to quell this early enthusiasm! Could this be Gene's year?

What about Snorkel? Snorkel sat out last year's corn maze event. Was it a sign of weakness? Maybe he just didn't want to show all of his cards a year before he was ready. Rumor has it that Snorkel has been spending several hours each evening studying the X-Fish map and has taken several blistering walks between the stalks!

There have been other names floated about too. One dark horse would be Jimi H, a name that appeared only recently on the OK scene, but seems to be very much 'in the know' (if you know what I mean).

-- Mook (everett@psi.edu), July 04, 2001