DATE: Saturday, August 9, 1997              TAG: 9708090356

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ERIKA REIF, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: GLOUCESTER                        LENGTH:  115 lines

THE CROAK OF THE WILD FROG LOVERS HOP ACROSS THE CONTINENT TO HELP SAVE THE DECLINING AMPHIBIANS.

Ask Peace Frogs Road Rally mastermind Catesby Jones why he sends teams of drivers on a scavenger hunt and road race from Richmond to Fairbanks, Alaska, and he practically bursts with the obvious:

``It's cool. . . . It's wild. . . . It's nuts,'' he says.

Just think. The weary competitors who drag themselves home, like many this week did, are now ``enlightened'' about frogs, Jones says.

Or at least they've spread the word about the amphibians' worldwide decline, a potentially catastrophic mystery because frogs are considered to be forecasters of environmental problems.

Get it? Seen the Gloucester-based company's frog-making-peace-sign logo on T-shirts, hats, flip-flops, yo-yos, you-name-it?

(And then wonder why you didn't think of a catchy company theme, dream up a wacky public spectacle of a road race that even caught CNN's roving eye this year, then nobly donate race proceeds to frog research?)

Actually, this year's race set Peace Frogs back a few hundred dollars. But the company, which earned more than $3 million last year, has pledged $10,000 anyway to sponsor research of frog populations.

That's all bugs on the windshield to the members of 13 teams that coughed up $1,000 entry fees for the race, which ended in Fairbanks July 26. The winners were the Motorcycle Team, led by Damian Horne of Williamsburg.

Like other racers, the four bikers skipped a lot of sleep during 14 days and nights on the road. To win, they racked up more miles than anyone in their quest for crucial ``challenge'' points, awarded for completing designated tasks en route and recording them with a Polaroid camera.

``We don't mess around,'' said Horne, 38, a Gloucester lawyer who placed third in last year's inaugural rally.

At the start of the race July 12, teams gathered in Richmond to receive a list of more than 300 challenges. They also were given the location of the first of two checkpoints they had to pass through before finishing.

Horne and his crew of three huddled in a cafe outside Richmond to plot a strategy. The first checkpoint was Eugene, Ore. The Motorcycle Team was one of several to choose a Southern route - through Key West, Fla. - to snap a photo there and earn 15,000 points, a significant chunk of their total, 136,500.

Horne's Harley Davidson, with a sidecar attached for the team's fourth rider, broke down twice getting to Florida. The bike stopped in South Carolina, where Horne got a lift on the back of a produce truck to a repair shop, recalls teammate Steven Giles, 29, of the Hayes area in Gloucester County.

There, ``two of the scariest people you would ever meet made a piece fit that we couldn't get a part for,'' Giles said.

After another mechanical problem in Florida, the team rented a Penske moving truck to haul the bikes while they worked on the Harley. From there they drove on and off the truck to Memphis, Tenn., where they got on I-40, ``the quickest way across the country,'' Horne said.

To record scavenger hunt points, Giles, a Gloucester sheriff's deputy, made an ``evidence book'' from a spiral notebook and Polaroids. In this ``systematic and easy-to-read'' way, he said, he kept track of their exploits.

One challenge instructed them to take a picture with Elvis in every state. To save time, they carried a plastic magnet with Elvis' likeness and shot pictures of it in each state.

Peace Frogs spokesman Andrew Crosby was one of three who judged pictures at checkpoints and the finish line. Two of the three judges had to agree when awarding points, or partial points.

``It they can convince us, then it's fine,'' Crosby said of the trick photographs and offbeat interpretations of instructions.

Big points were given to teams who managed to plug the race on radio and TV stations. The Motorcycle Team got on three radio shows in Albuquerque, N.M., including the Spanish-speaking ``Radio Lobos,'' said Giles. Most stations gave them a studio tape to use as proof.

In California, the team tried to earn 2,000 points by talking to an inmate at the maximum-security Pelican Bay State Prison. They earned partial credit by making contact with an inmate named ``Simpson or somebody.''

Andrew Crosby noted, ``They did things that other people wouldn't dare do.''

Like climb atop the elevated Trans-Alaska pipeline over the raging Tanana River. Horne, an ex-Ranger and Green Beret, earned the team partial credit for his attempt.

For most teams, simply driving the twisting gravel roads of the Alaska-Canadian Highway was enough. Not to mention the lack of sleep while speeding along the final stretch from the second checkpoint in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, to Fairbanks.

``People need to have deprivation in their lives,'' Horne said. ``And then these Peace Frogs things are fun, rather than an ordeal.''

Except for the time his teammates drove ahead and Horne came face-to-face on his motorcycle with a very large moose.

``This thing just comes out of the woods,'' Horne said. ``I've been to Africa, I've seen elephants and everything. This thing was bigger. And he wasn't going to give me the right of way.''

Finally, the moose stepped to the side of the road ``and glared'' as Horne drove past, he recalled.

It was nearly 2 a.m. July 27 at Ivory Jack's pub in Fairbanks when the points were tallied. In the Land of the Midnight Sun, it looked like dusk outside.

The runner-up was a repeat from last year, Team Yorktown, also known as ``The Old Guys.''

Old Guy team leader George Wiatt Jr. (age 49) of Newport News said he was ``kind of crushed'' to come in second with 114,500 points.

Nevertheless, his team and one known as ``The British Guys'' passed around a hat to collect money for the financially depleted ``Iditafrogs'' team, a couple who got engaged en route.

Drivers washed down trail dust with beer passed around in the trophy cup. The winners mused about the ``iron butts'' they developed from sitting on bikes for so many miles.

When the Motorcycle Team left the bar at 4 a.m., the sun was shining brightly, like the gold coins making up their $10,000 prize.

They might race again next year - destination Costa Rica - they said. But they will not be riding motorcycles. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

MOTOYA NAKAMURA/The Virginian-Pilot

Now it can be toad: Steven Giles, left, and Damian Horne won the

Peace Frogs Road Rally by tallying the most points in a zany

two-week scavenger hunt.

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