his breath.
The fifth runner was a thirteen-year-old girl named Dixie. She was fast but a terrible swimmer. She took the far lane on the other side of Tally.
“Welcome to the annual running of the Bartlett Preliminaries,” Emmett said, welcoming the crowd of hundreds.
Cheers and whoop whoops went into the air with a resounding applause.
“Without further delay – runners step up to the line.”
Gladius stepped up to the fresh line drawn in the dirt. He knew if he won this race, he would make his family proud keeping with the winning tradition. He carefully placed his thumbs and forefingers parallel to the line just as his brothers had taught him. He staggered his feet and raised his butt in the air as Emmett hollered out the commands to get ready.
“Go!”
Gladius took off as fast as his thirteen-year-old legs could carry him. Dust plumed behind. Ten meters ahead lay three full water barrels.
Leading up to the barrels, the race judges created five lanes one meter wide. Each contestant was to stay in his own lane until they had hurdled over the barrels, at which point the course opened up to a free-for-all as long as all runners followed the race line clearly marked with ropes and red flags.
Out of the corner of Gladius’ eye he saw that Silas had gotten off to a great start – a second early if you asked Gladius – but nobody else seemed to notice. Gladius could feel tiny pebbles of sand hit his legs as Silas ran out of his lane, forcing Leander into his lane.
“Run, Gladius! Get to the barrel first!” his brother, Kirken, called out their family strategy.
Gladius knew that if he cleared the barrels in first place, he would have a much better chance of winning the race. However, as he readied himself to jump, he knew he would not be in first after the barrel. Silas’s fast start and poor lane running distracted Gladius enough that even Tally cleared his barrel before he did. Leander stayed right with him leading up to the jump.
Gladius’ foot grazed the top of the barrel causing him to stumble and fall. Why here, he thought, right in front of the whole town and my family? Why, right at the start-finish line where most of the townsfolk watched the race?
Gladius rolled and somersaulted out of his fall so effortlessly that he later learned some people who saw it happen thought he did it on purpose.
The crowd oohed and aahed.
“Nice recovery, Glad,” he heard his father yell.
Now it was fifty meters to the next obstacle of three floating logs in the town’s river. That’s why it was so important to get over the barrels first. If you were second, or worse, you would have to traverse the logs after someone else had already leapt their way across, leaving the logs to bob and weave in the water like potatoes in a boiling pot.
But none of this bothered Gladius. He was focused and knew he was faster than the others. The short distance should be just enough space to pass Silas and catch Tally before the logs. It was Leander he had to worry about. The afternoon sun was hot and the cool breeze from sprinting felt good. Gladius loved to run, especially now when most of the town could see just how fast he was.
He soon passed Silas and caught up to his friend, but he knew Tally’s strength would come later in the tree climbing section. He focused on Leander, slowly reeling him in, gaining a half a step with each stride. The problem was that his stumble over the barrel gave Leander at least a three-meter lead. Could he catch him before the river? If not, plan B was to follow directly in Leander’s steps hoping for the least movement in the logs. If he did catch him, they would have to go side-by-side, and both of them would have to fight the bounding rolling motion of the logs.
Gladius knew that Tally planned to leap as far across the water as possible and skip the logs entirely. Tally had practiced it all summer but had never cleared it.
Gladius caught Leander just a meter before the water’s edge. They entered the log obstacle side-by-side. Leander’s foot landed on the first log a second before his and Gladius felt the log rise up to meet the bottom of his right foot. He expected it, so he adjusted his balance. No problem. He leapt forward, stretching his left foot the perfect distance. He must have landed first or they landed at the same time because Gladius did not feel any imbalance in the log. This was going to be easier than he thought. Just one more log and he’d clear the obstacle with ease.
His right foot landed on the last log, and as he brought his left leg forward, he felt his arm clash with Leander’s arm. Gladius lost his balance, his left foot landed knee deep in the water’s edge, and he crashed head first into the bank as Leander piled into his back.
Gladius glanced up to see Tally come crashing down in the water right next to them. Gladius managed to only get one leg wet but Tally sent a wave of water washing over Gladius thoroughly soaking him through.
“Sorry, mate,” said Tally, deftly landing in and jumping out of the water with one fluid and practiced movement as he ran past Gladius and Leander for the second time.
Leander scrambled up the short dirt bank ahead of Gladius as Dixie and then Silas passed them both. Running from last place again – this was not how Gladius envisioned the race going. He was supposed to be in first right now but instead Tally led the pack and was at least twenty meters ahead of Gladius.
The next big obstacle was the Mill Pond, but before the swimming, they had to run through a swampy wet land. As Gladius slugged through his feet sunk in mud up to his ankles and once to his knees, but he wasn’t the only one struggling through the bog. Everyone struggled. Gladius thought he was gaining on Silas and Dixie, though it looked like Tally and Leander both were trudging through with little effort.
The heavy wet mud was annoying, and Gladius couldn’t wait to dive into the coolness of the pond. He ran past Silas, if you could call it running, and soon caught Dixie at the water’s edge. Tally and Leander were already swimming and were a good third of the way across the pond.
Gladius dived in without stopping. The cool water felt wonderful as he held his breath and stroked, pulling himself through the first few meters below the water. He surfaced and took a huge gulp of air and immediately started into his front crawl. He was a good swimmer, not the best, but still good. He knew he could make up a little time on Tally, but he didn’t know how good a swimmer Leander was.
By the time Tally reached the opposite shore Leander had caught him and Gladius still had twenty meters to go. He focused on a strong finish for his swim. Pulling himself ashore dripping and exhausted, he willed his legs to start running. Before him was a steep sandy cliff. Tally was digging his way through it on his hands and feet in what they called ‘the bear crawl’. It was the same approach Gladius planned to use.
Reaching the top of the sandy cliff burned through a great deal of Gladius’ energy. He ran by as Tally lay in the tall grass at the top trying to catch his breath.
“Come on Tal, get up,” Gladius said, huffing by him.
Ahead ran Leander through the clover field. This was the longest stretch of flat running on the course and Gladius’ big chance to catch Leander. Exhausted and nearly out of breath, his body wanted to stop but he willed himself to put one foot in front of the other until the pain of exhaustion passed and he began to get air into the deepest pockets of his lungs. Deep breaths, in the nose, out the mouth, repeat. Slowly his energy came back and he gained on Leander.
At the end of the clover field they would have to cross the river once more. The challenge was a rope bridge made with one thick rope to place your feet on, and two higher ropes to place your hands on for balance. At first sight the bridge looked fun and easy to cross but anyone who ever crossed it knew the suspension bridge was neither fun nor easy. If you leaned too far to one side, the whole thing would twist in the air, dumping you in the water below. It was best to cross it one person at a time.
When Gladius reached the rope bridge, Leander was in its middle. Gladius had to make a snap decision, cross now or wait until Leander had crossed. If he crossed now, they both might plunge into the r
iver below, surely losing the race. He quickly looked back and saw Tally not far behind and the other two were just starting to run as well. He decided not to wait for Leander.
Stepping on the rope, he felt it wiggle. Leander shot a worried glance back at him.
“You’ll flip us both if you do,” Leander called back to him.
Gladius ignored him and continued. He was a third of the way across when Leander finished crossing. The subtraction of his weight caused the bridge to begin a wicked twist. Gladius stuck out his left leg trying to counterbalance. His right leg shook in pain, but it worked, the bridge stabilized and he was able to finish just as Tally started to cross.
It was a short run to the towering twin pines, and the idea was that each runner had to climb the tree and retrieve his numbered flag. Leander was already climbing as Gladius reached the trunk. Both trees held numbered flags so it didn’t matter which tree, he just needed to choose one and go get his flag, and then climb back down as fast as possible. He chose the tree that Leander was not climbing. Gladius didn’t know if he could make up time on Leander, but he knew he would have to go fast to stay ahead of Tally because this is where Tally would shine.
Picking his way up the cleanest side of the tree, Gladius thought he was making good time. He reached the top, found his flag and stuffed it in his