ATHOL — Mother Nature was a day late in pulling an April Fool’s joke on the region, blanketing the area with a couple inches of the white stuff Monday morning.
But hearty River Rats are ignoring her latest huff and continuing to sign up for the 55th running of the River Rat Race, set to shove off at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 14.
Even the Athol Lions Club’s rat mascot has emerged, and is making public appearances. The rat, as yet unnamed, made a stop at River Rat Central — the Athol Daily News — on Monday morning to check on registrations. The mascot will visit many of the race sponsors over the next couple of weeks. Where will you see him next?
The canoe count is up to 72, with the latest entrants qualifying for a chance at a pair of special Zaveral Racing Equipment paddles. All entries under the 200 mark will be in the drawing for these paddles — one purchased by the Athol Lions Club, and the other donated by long-time racer Bob Zaveral, owner of ZRE in New York.
New entries include: Sarah Dolan and Tristen Lee, both of Athol; Mary Hamilton of Keene, N.H. and Matt King of Athol; Beth Duguay and Chris Duguay, both of Winchendon; Rawley Hubbard of Warwick and Jeffrey Blake of Northfield; John Richardson III and Dave Charles, both of Athol; Lloyd Sanderson of Orange and Dave Candorpe of Weston; Tom Payne and Sandy Superchi, both of Athol; Rod McLain of Stockton Springs, Maine and Gary McLain of Ballston, N.Y.; Robert D’Armognal of Worcester and Dean Gaskill of Uxbridge; Jason Griffiths of Chelsea, Maine and Bryon Beauregard of Winchendon; Austin Smith of Athol and Matt Romanelli of Orange; Cody Pease and Nicole Fuller, both of Erving; Michael Hill and Mikayla Goodwin, both of Northfield; Justin Fellows and Jeremy Kleradio, both of Erving; Ross Ducharme of Jefferson and Evan Oliveri of Hubbardston; Kevin Shortis of Petersham and Jessie Marquardt of Gardner; Seth Miller of Norwood and Stephen Miller of Groton; Robert Mackay and Cy Survelle, both of Berlin; Chris Wiegert of Merrimac, N.H., and Rich Gerth of Cincinnati, Ohio; Joe Perkins of Warren and Kay Siglos, both of New York, N.Y.; Evi DeChambeau of Whitman and Lea Ahaesy of Fall River; Rebecca Coffin of Templeton and Jay Franklin of Millbury.
Applications are available to download from www.riverratrace.com or Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Athol Daily News business office, 225 Exchange St. Extended hours for signups will be held Thursday, April 12, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.