Fair game

Andrew Glazer

FAIRGROUNDS -- With bellies hanging loose over Rebel flag belt

buckles, the two athletes simultaneously pulled off their white cowboy

hats, wiped their brows with the back of their hands and hooked their

thumbs onto the front pocket of their pressed Wrangler jeans.

It was time to compete.

“The secret to the egg toss is soft hands and to take it slow,” said

Blake Tice, 15, a sophomore participant in Westminster High School’s

Future Farmers of America program who looks a decade older than his age.

He was one of about 200 Orange County students participating in

Friday’s Barnyard Olympics between teams representing 4-H and Future

Farmers of America chapters.

Events included hay-stacking races, bobbing for apples, the egg toss

and an obstacle course. The master of ceremonies was John Rafferty, 17, a

senior at Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton. His bleached hair stood

in spikes resembling yellow alfalfa sprouts.

Rafferty said the events are not intended to be ultra-competitive.

“It’s a great way of getting people together,” he said.

“We just throw a few events together and have fun with it,” said

Taylor Gannon, 16, who wore baggy overalls over an orange tank top.

Her grandmother Donna Russell, 64, drove up from Canyon Lake to watch

the games. Russell leaned on the edge of her bleacher during the

hay-hauling competition.

Teams of five were timed as they carried six bales of hay, each

weighing slightly less than 100 pounds, to the other side of an arena.

“Those things are easy at first,” said a lanky Blake Cavalier, 17, who

just graduated from Buena Park High School’s Future Farmers of America

program, and was still panting five minutes after his heat.

“The thin ropes hurt your fingers, though. And my back is killing.”