Or-Cal, a manufacturer of slug and snail bait based in Junction City, credits
slugs as capable of traveling two feet in 43 seconds, noting that while a
human can run a 100-yard dash in less than 10 seconds, a slug would
traverse that distance in approximately two hours.

That was put to the test – almost – on Saturday, Aug. 21 at the Brightwood
Tavern, where the local answer to the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes,
“Slug Races,” was held.

/Slug fact: (read slowly) a small slug can eat up to twice as much as it
weighs in one night, and favorites including strawberries and leafy plants./
Current co-owner Ron Gambell’s father, Bob, started the annual event in the
late 1970s as a twist on a popular fad at the time: mouse races.

“They’d have long tubes set up and tracks around bars,” Gambell said. “Dad
couldn’t figure out how to set it up in here, so screw it, we’ll just race slugs.”
Back then, races were held inside the bar on the pool table and early returns
brought in approximately $30, which they donated to the Hoodland Senior
Center. The annual event grew with time, including highlights such as
sponsoring people to eat slugs – one year, Gambell reports, a woman ate a
slug for $150.

“It’s not something I would do,” he said of gulping down the slimy crawler, a
member of the mollusk family (along with snails, clams and squid).
/Slug fact: a typical garden slug will weigh approximately 300 milligrams. The
foot-long California slug weighs approximately one-quarter pound./
The Slug Races disappeared for a while when the tavern closed, and after it
reopened last summer, Gambell decided to bring the event back this year,
again to benefit the Hoodland Senior Center.

Slugs of all sizes arrived at the bar, where Gambell set up an outdoor
racetrack, consisting of concentric circles. Participants drop their slugs off at
the center and whichever creepy crawler travels the farthest in five minutes is
the winner.

“They just kind of go wherever they go,” said Gambell.

Racers are divided into three classes: lightweight, middleweight and
heavyweight, and the afternoon is marked by a series of races to determine
the greatest slug.

/Slug fact: in heavily infested fields, there are approximately nine slugs per
square foot, which equals approximately 392,040 slugs per acre. Only 20
percent of slugs in the population are feeding at any given time./

Some attendees reported difficulties in finding slugs in preparation for the
races, but a strong showing of contestants eventually came out. Gambell’s
rules for the races include no salt, no touching the slugs once a race begins,
no touching an opponent’s slug and no beer or alcohol for the slimy racers.
“We’ve got to watch the tequila drinkers so they don’t get any salt on the
track,” he added.

This year’s event featured an appearance by the “Slug Queen,” elected by
patrons of the tavern. Marta Tarrants earned the unique title by a wide
margin, an honor for which she actively campaigned.

“I threatened enough people with bodily harm to vote for me,” she said.
Tarrants and her husband brought a slug for the event, but didn’t have any
grand plans to lead to certain victory.

“I think we’re just going to plunk him on the board and hope for the best,”
she said.

/Slug fact: slugs are territorial and will attack caterpillars and other intruders./
Slugs likely aren’t used to people cheering as they go about their lives, but on
this day, dozens of tavern patrons crowded around the track to motivate their
racers or watch the excitement. Sandy Bonife found her slug earlier that
morning, and without any training, it earned an early victory in a lightweight
race.

“It was a derby horse slug,” said Bonife. “It was a fabulous, victorious win.”
A man who identified himself as Smitty earned a victory in a middleweight
race with a slug he purchased from Bonife, but he used some strong
motivation to get his racer on the move.

“I had a very serious, personal talk with him, (saying), ‘just race and I won’t
kill you,’” he said.

The day’s big winner, a heavyweight monster who won its class and the
overall championship, declined to be identified, citing the media scrutiny and
mass hysteria over having a world-class athlete in the community.

But the other winners were easy to pick out, including the Hoodland Senior
Center, which received more than $300 from the event, and the people who
came out to race or simply watch.

“Everybody had fun and everybody got along,” said Gambell, who expressed
his deep gratitude to the staff of the Brightwood Tavern for making the races
a success. “It was what it should be. I really thank the community for coming
out and supporting us.”