Muckrace Musings

The final results are in, and the Montezuma Muckrace raised a record amount of $10,411. See the Planning Committee's announcement:

Congratulations Muckracers!

We definitely met our $10,000 goal this year-the total to date is $10,411.10! The checks keep coming in, so there is a good chance that number will increase. The Muckrace Planning Committee congratulates everyone for contributing to this year's event, and for exceeding our $10,000 for the first time. Muckrace funds will be put towards an eBird kiosk at the Montezuma Audubon Center that will allow visitors to enter and retrieve bird data in real time. If find yourself in the Ithaca area, you can check out an eBird kiosk at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's visitor center. Perhaps the new kiosk will be in place for Muckracers to enter their sightings during next year's event.

And now for the drum roll please...The team that raised the most money this year was the Plucky Mucksters who raised $1,302!!!! This is a remarkable amount of money for a single team to fundraise. It is the second year in a row that the Plucky Mucksters have come in first place for most money raised by a single team. The Plucky Mucksters team members include Bob McGuire, Deirdre Anderson, Susan Danskin, and Gary Kohlenberg. The second place team, the Capitol Cuckoos with members Jane Graves, Alison Van Keuren, John Hershey, and Larry Rowland, brought in $905. And, the third place team was the Mottled Mucks with members John Ballou, Amy Dreibelbis, Chris Langman, Dick Beery and Dom DeFazio, who raised $738. Ten teams raised over $250 and four teams raised over $500!!! We also received a number of cash donations from local businesses including Terry Precision Cycling, Wild Birds Unlimited of Johnson City & Ithaca, Nucor Steel, NYSOA, Bass Pro, and Avinet.

Once again congratulations and thank you! Hope to see you at next year's event, which is taking place September 12-13, 2008.

Sincerely,

Muckrace Planning Committee Members

How awesome! Also, the 2007 Muckrace Musings is now available - check it out for a great summary. Our team (Scissor-tailed Prairie-Robins, see race report here) finished tied for third with 122 species and raised $265. Our highlight of the day (one of many): "Asking a singing Screech Owl if it was real". Our team is also on the photo pages, page 7 upper left and right corners.

Scissor-tailed Prairie-Robins left to right: Myself, Paul Hurtado, Shawn Billerman, Ryan Douglas, Brad Walker

It was a great race, I can't wait for more (if I will still be in the area come next September). I am glad to see the Race to continue to break its own records.