Race Officials

The 600 swimmers who turned out for Sunday's Great Chesapeake Bay Swim raised more than $50,000 for the March of Dimes and other regional causes, race officials said yesterday. Charles J. Nabit, race director, said the exact tally won't be known for at least a week. By that time, all merchandise sales and final pledges will have been logged in. Last year's race raised a record $61,000, Nabit said. He said the bulk of this year's funds will go to the Maryland Chapter of the March of Dimes.

Two Annapolis sailors, Jeff Borland and Tim Williams, took advantage of favorable winds on their home Chesapeake Bay waters to take the lead in their classes Saturday at the Sperry Top-Sider NOOD Regatta. Borland leads the nine-boat Etchells class aboard Make Mine a Double with 13 points through two days of the three-day event. Williams has four wins in six races aboard LinGin in the Alberg 30 class. Race officials will determine the regatta's overall winner today, based on the strongest finish in the most competitive class.

BOSTON -- At least three people are dead and 100 injured after two bomb blasts shook the site of the Boston Marathon finish line Monday afternoon, with a third, possibly related incident an hour and a half later, reported at Boston's John F. Kennedy Library. Spectator video from the finish-line explosion shows marathon fans being pushed off of the Boylston Street sidewalk by the concussions, the smoke of the blasts blowing through the international flags lining the finish chute. Medical treatment of bystanders' most severe injuries included amputations after what were thought to be low-angle explosions at near range.

He's ba-a-ack. Kegasus, that is. Apparently, you can't kill him. He's like Edward in the "Twilight" series, only with a beer gut and biker hair and a much lower IQ. Oh, and with a dopey new sidekick, too. (More on that in a moment.) Yes, the Maryland Jockey Club just announced the return of Kegasus as, ahem "Lord of the Preakness InfieldFest and centerpiece of its' 2012 advertising campaign. " Which means the low-brow, beer-swilling, half-man, half-horse returns to make all sensible Marylanders cringe with embarrassment as the 137th running of the Preakness Stakes May 19 at Pimlico Race Course approaches.

For Jamie Myers, going to the Preakness and letting loose on the infield is a rite of passage, a youthful, bawdy tradition that, for better or worse, will always remind him of growing up in Baltimore. There are real photos and those just in his mind of the mind-boggling consumption, the young women lifting their T-shirts, the epic carousing. He remembers that time when he and his buddies showed up outside Pimlico at 6 a.m. with two cases of beer, but by the time the gates opened at 9, they'd already drained it. Though he's skipped it for a couple of years, the 34-year-old private school administrator will be back this weekend, hoping to find a taste of the wild Preakness of legend — even though race officials, fearing embarrassment and liability, have tamed the modern infield by barring spectators from bringing in drinks.

Montgomery Rockville Man collapses, during race, dies A man died after collapsing during a 5-mile race in Rockville over the weekend, according to officials in Montgomery County. Pete Piringer of the Montgomery County fire and rescue service says the man collapsed near the campus of Montgomery College, about a mile from the finish line of the Rockville Rotary Twilight Runfest, on Saturday night. The runner was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Piringer says more than 2,000 people took part in the race.

In Harford County Police arrest 2 people in Edgewood bank robbery BEL AIR - State police have made two arrests in connection with an Edgewood bank robbery last week. Yesterday, police arrested Emmanuel Melvin Jr., 26, and Lydia Mae Burkett, 33, both of the 800 block of Kingston Court, Edgewood, in the July 17 robbery of an M&T Bank in the 1400 block of Pulaski Highway. In Baltimore City 10-mile run to benefit Boys' Latin scholarship A 10-mile run is being held tomorrow to benefit a scholarship fund at the Boys' Latin School, race officials said.

Cal's goin' racin'. Major League Baseball, NASCAR and the Orioles are expected to announce before tomorrow's game against the Toronto Blue Jays that third baseman Cal Ripken will serve as honorary starter for the Sept. 23 MBNA-Cal Ripken 400 at Dover Downs International Speedway in Dover, Del. The race date coincides with the celebration surrounding the final home game of Ripken's career. Ripken will attend the race with his family then helicopter back to Baltimore for a 7:05 p.m. game.

EF Education, the women's team from Sweden that was dismasted in the Whitbread Round the World Race, will step a new mast in Ushuaia, Argentina, and complete Leg 5 under sail.Race officials estimate the women's team will arrive in Sao Sebastiao, Brazil, on March 10, four days before the start of Leg 6 to Fort Lauderdale.Silk Cut, the British team that was dismasted on this leg, has taken on diesel fuel in Ushuaia and is motoring to Braazil with a skeleton crew.EF Education team officials said the decision to sail to Sao Sebastiao was made after they learned the men's team would use their engine.

Baltimore's Dan Dent was still mushing his way down the Iditarod Trail yesterday despite crashing into a tree early Tuesday and losing 14 of his 16 dogs in the rugged Alaska Range. Dent, 58, was last reported at the Rohn Roadhouse. That's 272 miles from the starting line near Anchorage, and 879 miles from the finish in Nome. The Baltimore investment counselor was running 68th in the field of 79, about 200 miles behind the leader, Doug Swingley. Trail reports said Dent's sled struck a tree on a treacherous bit of hillside trail five miles from Rainy Pass.