Published: January 25, 2007 11:51 pm

Crawlathon poised to set attendance record

OLIVE HILL — The secret’s out, apparently.

The Carter Caves Crawlathon has preregistered 726 participants who will seek out the eastern Kentucky park this weekend for some muddy underground fun.

“We’re thinking it’s going to be a record,” said John Jordan, park manager.

In fact, the 25th annual Crawlathon last year recorded about 550 people, so this time the number’s definitely up, said Coy Ainsley, naturalist who coordinates more than 100 cave trips over the event’s three days.

“Anybody who wants to donate a parking lot or two, send them my way,” he joked.

Crawlathon will celebrate its 26th year when it kicks off tonight at Carter Caves State Resort Park near Olive Hill.

It started in the early 1980s with about three guides and seven trips, and only about 30 signing up that year, according to park naturalists.

Today, the park uses between 100 and 120 volunteer guides to show hundreds of participants around the park’s caves, and then some.

Besides wild caving, sightseeing walks, canoeing and “pit plunging” using rope in vertical caves, the event offers plenty of educational and exciting experiences for participants of all ability levels. It’s also great for the park because it comes during its slowest season.

Lectures about “cave topics,” including exploration efforts at Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave — the longest in the world — the history of caves and more make up evening programs, which round out the event.

This year’s keynote speaker Saturday is Jim Pisarowicz of Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota, who will detail the exploration of the world’s second longest cave and the unique formations it holds.

In recent years, though, attendance at Crawlathon had declined somewhat, possibly because its “veteran crowd” was dwindling, some said.

Now, with record numbers once again, it’s believed a boost in publicity has paid off.

“A lot of local and different media covered us last year, which let a lot of people know about it,” Jordan said.

Plus, it made it in the “Top Ten” festivals and events for winter in a contest sponsored by the Kentucky Tourism Council last year, which meant even more publicity nationwide, he said.

It’s a fun event, where you don’t have to be an expert caver; and it’s at a great state park, he said.

“The word’s out ... Everybody’s saying, ‘Hey, let’s go crawl in a cave.’”

All trips are full, but information about each as well as the entire Crawlathon can be found online. Past schedules and photos are also available.

ALLEN BLAIR can be reached at ablair@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2657