Insects prepare for upcoming
Bug Bowl
events
 By
Kurt Esposito
Assistant Campus Editor
The fast field for this year's All-American Trot
should provide for competitive races at Roach Hill Downs.
Arwin Provonsha, illustrator and museum curator
for the department of entomology and voice of Roach Hill Downs, said
the thoroughbred cockroaches have all been working with the highly skilled
roach wranglers and will be ready for the races on Saturday and Sunday.
The races are part of the11th annual Bug Bowl,
which will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m.
to 4 p.m. on Sunday. All events will take place in Smith Hall and in
and around the Agricultural Administration Building.
Tom Turpin, professor of entomology, said the bowl
is a great educational opportunity for people to learn about insects
and overcome their hang-ups.
"People bring a certain amount of emotional baggage
when it comes to insects," he said. "It's one of the things we try to
overcome to teach people the role of insects in nature."
People normally afraid of bugs will have the opportunity
at the petting zoo to pet tropical millipedes, giant cockroaches, horned
worms and death beetles.
The All-American Trot will feature an exhibition
race in which the thoroughbred American cockroaches will race with cockroaches
from the XRL — the Extreme Roach League.
The racing event at Roach Hill Downs is the Tractor
Pull in which Madagascar hissing cockroaches will be used to pull tractors.
"No Indiana sporting event would be complete without
an Indiana tractor pull," said Provonsha.
Each of the five cockroaches competing will represent
an Indiana college or university. Provonsha said he hopes Purdue Petey
the Wonder Roach will avenge past losses this year and defeat the Notre
Dame cockroach.
"We certainly predict he will pull to victory and
put us back on top of the heap," he said.
The other major sporting event at the Bug Bowl
is the cricket-spitting contest. Contestants in the competition will
get to choose from three thawed out crickets. After placing the cricket
in their mouths, the contestants will have 20 seconds to spit it out.
They have to spit within the confines of a circle and no part of the
cricket can be showing until it is spit out.
"We adhere to the rules religiously as we would
in any great sporting event," said Turpin.
On Tuesday at a display booth promoting the event,
Nissa Majors, freshman in the School of Agriculture, took part in a
practice spitting. She said the cricket felt like a Gummi worm with
legs. A couple of the legs even came off and stuck to her lip.
She said she is looking forward to competing in
the actual cricket-spitting contest during the bowl.
The world record holder for cricket spitting will
be there, but only to participate in an exhibition spit.
One of the new features this year is the caterpillar
race. Groups of five children have their legs tied together during the
race. "Five kids and six legs, a lot of caterpillar collisions," he
said.
People attending will also be able to try insect-theme
dishes, which include various stir-fry entrees and chocolate covered
crickets on a stick.
"(The chocolate covered crickets) are kinda like
a Nestle Crunch Bar," said Kate Holderman, a senior in the School of
Agriculture.
There will also be chocolate chirpy chip cookies,
where some of the chocolate chips will actually be roasted segments
of crickets dipped in chocolate.
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