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LISTEN NOW to the beautious music of The Rutabaga Chorus!!!
The 2009 Rutabaga Curl, our 12th annual, will be held at the Ithaca Farmers' Market on Saturday, December 19. Our registration table will open at 10:30 and will close at 11:45. Games will open with the 3rd annual Turnip Toss for younger contestants: we are able to register up to 30 youngsters for this event. The Curl itself follows immediately after this event where we expect over 100 athletes to be registered..
Our torch generally arrives at high noon after an arduous journey from Mt. Cruciferous. This is followed by a Parade of the Athletes. After a few brief ceremonies we get right into the games themselves. We are expecting another performance from the Vociferous Cruciferous chorus with another rousing rendition of Handel's "Rutabaga Chorus".
The 2008 Curl was our coldest Curl on record; this kept the crowd size down and had many athletes reconsidering the wisdom of heading out to hurl vegetables in extreme cold. This was the first field in many years with fewer than 100 athletes...just over 60 curlers braved the weather.
CLICK HERE to see photos from the 2008 Curl, courtesy of Jerry Feist.
A separate Turnip Toss was held for athletes 8 years and younger. Many young people are attracted to our sport but are unable to handle the demands of the heftier Rutabaga. The Turnip Toss offers a smaller more delicate projectile, the throwing distance is significantly shorter than the 79 foot Rutabaga Curling distance; pitching distance is a function of contestants age. Five year old Zeke Lawrence took home the coveted Gold Medal: Phoenix Uticone took Silver while Henry Toori took Bronze.
In the Rutabaga Curl there were many "no shows" as teams that had trained all year were noticeably absent due to severe weather. This created a wide-open, unpredictable field. Tom Mansell, a 25 year old Cornell graduate student won the Gold Medal. Tom modestly proclaimed that "anyone could have done this"...but we know otherwise. Ray Schlather of Ithaca took the Silver becoming the first Curler ever to medal more than once as he took the bronze in 2007! Market's own David Kingsbury took the 2008 Bronze Medal marking the first Market vendor to medal in many years. Congratulations to you all!
Any questions please call Commissioner Steve at (607) 387 3424. We look foward to seeing you at the Curl! |
