Gene sent out the following OK press release announcing the Corn Maze Orienteering.

Orienteer Kansans to run maize maze Aug 20

Like rats in a maze, on Sunday, Aug 20, an orienteering event will be held at the Butterfly Maize Maze at the Pendleton Country Market. Orienteer Kansas (OK) club members, which includes several former national orienteering champs, will race each other much like any other orienteering meet - using a map to navigate the course. The novelty of this course will be to locate markers along the maize paths.

Registration is at 9 am with the first runner off at 10 a.m. Entry fee is $10.

The Butterfly Wishes Corn/Soybean Maze, an 8-acre maze cut from corn and soybeans, was designed by Lawrence crop artist, Stan Herd. This is the second maze in two years that Herd has created on the Pendleton farm, just east of Lawrence.

Club member Fritz Menninger, from Holton, KS contacted Karen Pendleton about the possibility of doing an orienteering race.

The racers will be required to go no faster than a race walk to prevent any damage to the crops.

Club members have competed in events all over the U.S. and Europe. For Midwesterners, the orienteering season is usually in the fall and winter when the runners can go through the woods without being impeded by poison ivy, crawling insects and leaves still on tree branches.

The Aug 20 is a fun event to kick off the new O'season.

For more information about this special event, contact Fritz Menninger at 785-364-2354.

-- Michael (meglin@juno.com), August 11, 2000