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DAILY TIMES (Salisbury, Maryland) 18 August 03 Race turtles make tracks - Bivalve's Great North American Turtle Races take precautions to protect reptiles' welfare (Daniel Valentine)
Bivalve: Crowds packed Cedar Creek Park and Marina on Sunday for the 25th year of the Great North American Turtle Races.
The annual event, which benefits the West Side Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company, drew a crowd of more than 1,000 visitors who came to watch the bayside reptiles be put through their paces.
Organizers said more than 250 turtles took part in the multiple-round races this year, where the first turtle to tromp its way out of a 20-foot-wide circle wins.
Participation in this year's event was down slightly from the previous year, due to stormy weather Sunday morning and changes to the event itself.
In a concession to complaints from animal welfare activists as far away as Michigan after last year's event, the department this year stopped their practice of supplying turtles to visitors. Instead, competitors had to bring their own.
The decision was made after area law enforcement officials met with the department organizers in response to complaints.
Race organizers also placed a damp carpet over the asphalt track and encouraged visitors to release the reptiles back into the wild after the event.
"We consider ourselves friends of the turtle," said Don Messick, president of the West Side Fire Company. "That's what it's all about this year."
The prospective racers included 9-year-old Jessica Bradley of Sharptown, who brought along a painted turtle to race.
"It's fun," said Bradley, who participated in her third race this year.
Crowds at the Bivalve park also dined on seafood and snacks and socialized in the parking lots and benches.
"It's nice to see so many people," Wicomico County Councilman Chip Dashiell said as he served hot dogs to the waiting crowd from the food tent.
The turtle races are one of the biggest fund-raising sources for the department, which handles about 185 ambulance and 85 to 100 fire calls a year in southwest Wicomico.
Messick said the department is hoping to use the donations to help train rescue divers for their bayside coverage area.
Winner of this year's turtle race was Elizabeth Purnell of Bivalve.
Bivalve's Great North American Turtle Races take precautions

we wrote over 100 letters to the organizers last year to try to get them to stop the collecting of hundreds of wild caught turtles for the race. we told them about the hot asphalt burning their feet and not to re-release the animals in random places.
well i don't know if we had any influence but two out of three of our wishes came to pass. great news!