Teams needed to compete in codfish race event

MILBRIDGE — Organizers of the town’s 142nd anniversary celebration, a daylong series of events on Saturday, Aug. 4, are seeking teams of four contestants each for the annual “Codfish Relay Racing Open.”

A trophy and a prize of $100 will go to the fastest team to dress in firefighters’ turnout gear and shuttle a greased codfish for four trips across a measured course and through a blast of water from a high-pressure hose.

The codfish relay will begin at 2:30 p.m. at the baseball field on Park Street. Teams of contestants must register for the relay race by noon Saturday, Aug. 4, at the Milbridge Theater.

The 1990 codfish relay will be the seventh in an annual series that began Aug. 4, 1984. The original winners’ trophy for the relay race was retired Aug. 3, 1986, after three consecutive victories by teams of waitresses from the Red Barn Restaurant in Milbridge.

The last three annual relay races were won by teams of Milbridge women who competed as “The Crazy Cod-hoppers.” Last Aug. 5, cod-hoppers Laura Bagley, Carrie Dow, Becky White and Judy Cordier set a course record of 1 minute, 55 and 63/100ths seconds, while successfully defending their trophy for the second consecutive year and earning the right to retire the trophy.

While winning the codfish relay races each year, the waitresses and cod-hoppers defeated teams of fishermen, volunteer firefighters and foresters.

The second-place winners will receive a $25 gift certificate from the Red Barn Restaurant, and the third-place winners will receive tickets to the Milbridge Theater.

For the second consecutive year, the codfish relay will include a junior division for teams of youngsters ages 10 to 14. The defending champions are Keegan Beal, Chris Chipman, Josh Grover and Jeremy Ray, all of Milbridge, who competed last year as the “Cod-burgers.”

The winners of the junior division will share a prize of $40. The second-place prize in the junior division will be tickets to a teen dance at 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 4, at the Town Hall. The third prize will be tickets to the Milbridge Theater.