Off to the race

Hundreds turn out to cheer on turtles in Perham

By Jeff Hage (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Monday, June 23, 2008

PERHAM — Emily Zitzow couldn’t tell you a thing about turtles until volunteering Saturday to hand the reptiles over to children entered in the turtle races in Perham.

But she can tell you this: You can’t predict how a turtle will perform from one race to the next.

“They’re all different each time,” Zitzow said. “Some will run in one race and then sleep in the next.”

But the uncertainty of a turtle’s performance was just part of the fun Saturday at the Turtle Fest races. Lorna Jacobson of the Perham Chamber of Commerce estimated that turtles ran about 300 individual races Saturday morning.

Saturday racers not only hailed from Otter Tail County, but Kansas and California, as well. Earlier in the week racers showed up on Main Street Perham from Brisbane, Australia and Brazil, Jacobson said.

“They came all the way to race a turtle,” she said.

Racing a turtle is harder than it seems. One must first get past the registration table manned by longtime volunteers Kathleen Guck and Betty Locken.

“There’s no racing if you don’t get by us,” Guck said.

Guck’s cousin Ray Guck has been working the races for many, many years. The races began about 30 years ago and can attract 400 racers on the Fourth of July, Ray Guck said.

The turtles always seem to be ready to race, but it’s a well-kept secret how they get there. Even Guck isn’t so sure.

A group of FFA students do projects in their high school biology classes and they’re the ones who provide the turtles for the summer-long races.

“They provide them, feed them, and house them,” Guck said.

There’s one aspect of turtle races Guck can never seem to explain.

“When we have 300 races we get done about 11:30 and when we have 100 turtles we get done about 11:30,” he said.

That seems about as unpredictable as the speed of a racing turtle!