Epic Struggle Unfolds in LeConte Games

Bless their hearts. Team LeConte's rowing team may not be ready for London, but Bonnie, Lindi and John are long on heart and optimism.

Team LeConte competed valiantly Tuesday against the premier athletes from Nowhere in Particular to set up an epic showdown entering Wednesday's final day of the LeConte Games.  Team LeConte pushed its gold-medal haul to three with clutch victories against the team from Nowhere in Particular.

The LeConte rowing team made the best of a bad situation in striking gold in the three-person event.  Although the water from the spigot didn't provide quite the course that Team LeConte had hoped, the locals leaned on their knowledge of the terrain and some oars designed with cutting-edge technology to score a tough win.  Boat captain Bonnie kept Lindi and John in rhythm to cross the finish line first.

After hiking up LeConte the evening before, Lindi doubled gold on the day.  The Pennsylvanian dominated the trekking pole javelin throw to claim gold for Team LeConte.  Her official winning throw measured "a far piece," and it's likely there will have to be some lights replaced in the Gatlinburg Space Needle when Lindi's javelin is retrieved from down below.

Down three victories to two entering Tuesday's final event in the LeConte Games, Team LeConte called upon Austin and Chrissy to even the score with the team from Nowhere in Particular in the toilet key relay race.  For those unfamiliar with the highly technical race, the object is to sprint around camp as quickly as possible before handing off the bathroom key to your relay partner with precision.  A dropped toilet key can lead to a disqualification (and other misfortunes).  The competitor who reaches the toilets first with toilet key in hand is presented a porcelain medal.  After authoring a fine first leg, Chrissy handed off to Austin with a lead.  Austin turned on the burners and arrived at the toilets far ahead of the competition.

Now for the LeConte Games weather report.  Monday's high reached 63, our coolest day since July 13.  The low was 55 degrees.  We registered 0.33 inches of rain Monday.  So far on Tuesday the weather has been somewhat of a mixed bag--a little rain, a little sun and a lot of clouds.  Aside from immediately after Sunday's 3.64-inch deluge, we've had no reports of difficulty with trail conditions, although the footing is bound to have changed some in places carrying the most drainage.

The finale to the LeConte Games takes place Wednesday as Team LeConte seeks to defend its home turf and win the medal count.  Happy trails.

Lindi prepares to launch her winning throw in the trekking pole javelin. We think her gold-medal throw landed somewhere in the upper reaches of Gatlinburg's Space Needle.

After a strong opening leg in the toilet key relay, Chrissy flawlessly hands off the toilet key to Austin, who sprinted home to victory.