Bring out the camels

I used to love September. I was one of the crazy few who looked forward every year to school starting again. Freshly sharpened pencils, new clothes, a different teacher ... I loved it.

When people look back on the highlights from high school - prom, football games, graduation - I have my own list that includes stuff like diagramming sentences and memorizing the preamble to the Constitution.

So I was a little sad when I graduated from college, and fall lost all of its magic ... until now.

I've found a new reason to rejoice in the season of autumn: Camels.

The International Camel Races are held annually in Virginia City in September, kicking off with a media grudge match on Friday.

It started for me five years ago when a fellow reporter and I attended the grudge match. As it turned out, the other competitors were mostly working girls from the area brothels, handing out business cards and making impossible attempts to look sexy on top of camels. We learned the term "media" was used very loosely - no pun intended.

Not to be deterred by a little competition from the oldest profession, I returned the following year.

In the last five years, I've raced against television and radio personalities from the area, filmmakers from across the country, and a couple of reporters in helmets from a competing newspaper.

Sometimes, by a random fluke, they've won. Other times, like last year, I've taken the victory crown (actually it's a pink tiara that the newsroom made for me. They replaced a Barbie pendant with a camel figurine attached by dental floss).

Every year I send e-mails and make just as many phone calls to get my colleagues to join me in Virginia City.

Usually, they refuse.

Some are outright.

"No way I'm riding a camel," Barry Smith former Appeal editor now executive director of the Nevada Press Association, told me over the phone. "I don't have enough insurance."

Guy Clifton of the Reno Gazette-Journal wrote back: "If you have learned anything about Guy Clifton in the past two years, it should be that I ain't ridin' no camels."

Others make excuses.

Tom Henkenius from Channel 2 News said he "totally would," if he didn't have to pick up his parents in Sacramento.

He's deciding whether he can work around it, and we ended on a "We'll see."

Even our new editor, Barry Ginter, had agreed to ride months ago. Now he has a meeting in Reno he just can't miss.

I've heard it all before. Until I'm tired of hearing it.

All I want to hear is the grunting of the camels, the plunk of banjo music wafting into the dusty air and the roar of the die-hard camel-racing fans.

Forget the excuses. Drag your pasty selves from behind the desk and get on a camel. I've got a tiara to defend.

School is back in session.

• Contact reporter Teri Vance at tvance@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1272.

If you go:

Schedule of events for the International Virginia City Camel Races:

Thursday:

6:30 p.m.: jockey party at the Union Brewery, 63 N. C St.

Friday:

1 p.m.: gates open

1:30 p.m.: Media Races begin

7 p.m.: Camel Hump Ball at The V&T Depot, E Street between Sutton and Main streets.

Saturday:

Noon: Grand Parade on C Street

1:30 p.m.: Races begin

Sunday:

1:30 p.m.: Races begin

4 p.m.: Championship Races and awards ceremony

Cost: General admission is $10; VIP tickets are $35; family pack is $25; junior/senior/military $8

For information, call (775) 847-0311 or 1-800-718-SLVR.