Just Another Day in Studville...

JMC Ends with "South Side Slaughter"

It's offically a wrap with a full ten days to go in the month.  Challenge organizers were hoping that the two-Highlander vs. one-Scrapper format would produce a nail-biting Mileage Challenge, but it was not to be.

After an unprecedented (and arguably inhumane) 25 to 6.5 beatdown at the hands of Apple Hill, South Side stormed back with four straight wins which gave them 16.5 points; a half-point more than was needed to statistically clinch the JMC.

South Side also did a number on the Highlanders in terms of total mileage; 207 to 170.

And so, the JMC ends with the final score of...

South Side:  16.5

Apple Hill:  4.5

On the bright side, the two teams now have plenty of time to prep for the August Mileage Challenge (AMC) which starts in just ten days.  The AMC's format will pit the same teams against each other, except it will be based simply on total mileage.

The South Side front office will try its best to recruit Shocker back to the team to participate in the AMC, but since August takes place during the summer the hopes are not high.  Nonetheless, buoyed by the JMC results, K-Law has announced that he will participate regardless of what Shocker decides. 

In the meantime, Scrapper Nation is celebrating wholeheartedly on the south side of town, relieved that they will not be subject to any of the "now, slide to the left..." nonsense. 

At least, not for now.

Insurmountable?

Well, K-Law has returned from a mileage-silence-induced trip to internet-free Maine (similar to Coach's trip last summer) and has logged his miles for the past week, finally making it possible to tally up the current score for the JMC. 

And the result is not a pleasant one if you hail from Apple Hill.

Day #8: Apple Hill wins, 16.3 to 9.

Day #9: South Side wins, 13.8 to 0.

Day #10:  A friggin' tie!  Double goose eggs!

Day #11:  South Side wins, 10.3 to 0.

Day #12:  South Side wins, 11.5 to 7.7.

Day #13:  South Side wins, 12.4 to 9.2.

Day #14:  South Side wins, 11.3 to 0.

Day #15:  Apple Hill wins, 15 to 12.1.

Day #16:  South Side wins 9 to 6.

Day #17:  Apple Hill wins convincingly, 25 to 6.5!

Day #18:  South Side wins a tight one, 6 to 4.5.

And so the dust settles on a current score of...

South Side:  13.5

Apple Hill:  4.5

That means the magic number for the Scrappers is just 2.5, while the Highlanders still need to rack up 11.5.  Somehow.

The Highlanders are certainly known for their legendary come-from-behind wins, but this would require a downright supernatural come-from-behind effort.

And somewhere in the Glastonbury Highlands, a bagpiper preps his pipes for the Scottish death knell...

Scrappers and Scouts Combine for a Streak...

The Highlanders have caught a spell of bad luck the past few days as Coach has been stuck out in the woods with a troop of Boy Scouts who are apparently testing out their knot-tying skills on Coach's ankles as he has managed just 6 miles in the past 3 days. 

This has left Shortcut to battle K-Law more-or-less on his own, which has proven to be a problematic match-up for Apple Hill as South Side won a super-narrow one on Day #5 (12.3 to 12), again on Day #6 (10 to 5.5) and yet again on Day #7 (10 to zero!).  Throw in a Scrapper win for Day #4 and you've got a 4-day winning streak for South Side...

South Side: 6

Apple Hill: 1

There's now a sense of unease stirring among the Apple Hill faithful as they were expecting a much tighter battle than this for the first week.  And the fact that K-Law is prepping for a presumably mileage-stuffed week while camping in southern Maine next week (no Boy Scouts involved) is certainly not easing Highlander nerves.

But famous Apple Hill archivist, Seamus Macleod, points out that the Highlanders have a history of starting off painfully slow and then surging near the middle and end of the month, which usually results in a (very) narrow win.

So the Apple Hill fans are left to helplessly wait for that "Highlander surge".

And the statisticians are left scratching their heads, trying to figure out how South Side can possibly be MORE competitive WITHOUT Shocker!

The Scrappers' "magic number" stands at 10...

South Side Enjoys Surprising Early Lead

K-Law, anticipating a serious drubbing over the weekend from Coach (in heavy training for his 24-race at month's end) with Shortcut chipping in, cranked out a pair of 12+ mile runs for the first two days of the Challenge, winning both Day #1 (12.1 to 6) and Day #2 (12.4 to 8) with ease. 

Annoyed by South Side's early lead, the mighty Highlanders dished out a pounding of the first order on Day #3 combining for a show-stopping 37.5 miles while K-Law could "only" muster 13. 

Although the Apple Hill fans thoroughly enjoyed watching South Side getting squashed, analysts pointed out that the Highlanders are clearly not coordinating their resource expenditure.  While Coach let loose a near-epic 32.5-mile run, certainly well beyond whatever K-Law could run, Shortcut inexplicably threw in an unneccesary 5 miles. 

The lack of coordination was also evident on Day #4 when the Highlanders followed up their 37.5-mile day with a big goose egg, which was unfortunate given that K-Law cruised through an 8.6 Mesh run with Shocker as he anticipated a dizzying two-day mega-mileage delivery from Coach, similar to what he unleashed last weekend.  Luckily for the Scrappers, the "two" half of the one-two punch was never delivered.

So...after the opening 4 days of the July Mileage Challenge:

South Side: 3

Apple Hill:  1

A rather promising start for the Scrappers, but there's still a long journey to magic-number 16!

Last-Minute "Highland Storm" Wins Week #4!

In a coordinated move that harkened back to last summer's intense mileage wars, Shortcut and Romance reportedly met at the track late yesterday to execute one final effort to put them past the Scrappers at the very end of the week. 

In fact, to add an exclamation point to their Week #4 victory, the Highlanders combined for over 16 miles yesterday (plus .2 miles of jigging) when only 11.9 was needed.

Reports from Apple Hill indicate that jigging, bagpipe-playing and public drunkeness continued well into the night and early morning, prompting the Glastonbury Police Department to put in a little overtime.  Meanwhile, a rather large group of Scrapper fans converged on South Side Tavern to (once again) burn Shocker in effigy.  The Portland Police Department was called in to address that gathering since the GPD was tied up on the other side of town. 

And so the final points were K-law with 3, Romance and Shortcut with 2 each and Shocker with zilch (which was perfectly fine with him).  In the tie-breaking tally of total miles for the month, Romance blew away his fellow Highlander for 2nd place.

Congratulations to all the competitors (including the "non-competitor) for a well-run month, and best of luck with the Highlanders vs. Scrapper face-off in July!