CELEBRATION, Fla. — Mandy Erdmann has a scar and it's a nasty scar. Just below her knee it forms a perfect circle, about the size of a silver dollar. That's why she's not competing in the Women's Log Roll event at the Great Outdoor Games here.

	A leg injury prevents Mandy Erdmann from participating in Log Rolling during these Games.

While other log rollers tap dance across a floating tree, Erdmann, who would have been a favorite, has been relegated to cheerleader.

She sits patiently in a nearby seat, watching Stihl teammate Jenny Atkinson advance to the semifinals. Her cheering is muddled, not because she feels any ill will toward the competitors but because she wants to be out there — you can see it on her face.

During last year's World Championship in the Boom Run, she missed the dock on her final run and jammed her leg on a protruding bolt. This is never a good thing.

"I thought I had just busted my knee until I rolled over and saw my leg bone," she said.

Surgery and stitches followed, then a month of rehab. Over the course of her recovery, she missed several qualifiers necessary to make the cut for the Great Outdoor Games.

"I will be participating in the Boom Run, but under the ranking system I couldn't make the Log Roll," she said.

The rankings Erdmann is referring to are the Lumberjack Sports World Ranking Association's standings. Points are given to athletes for final placements in major timber competitions.

On the scoreboard's big screen between heats, highlights rolled from last year's competition. Tina Bosworth, the dominant force in Women's Log Rolling, dismissed challenger after challenger on her way to gold in 2004 in Madison, Wis.

And on this day, Bosworth took care of eighth-seeded Maggie Bulk. Afterward Erdmann leaned over to tell me, "Tina's good, but she can be beaten."

The comment hangs for a second in the humid Florida air. You could tell Mandy Erdmann wanted to be the one that challenged the champion, but she'll have to wait.

The Games will be aired on ESPN and ABC Sports July 13-17, 2005. Click here for the broadcast schedule.

This article on the Great Outdoor Games 2005 Web site is brought to you by the editors of Field & Stream and Outdoor Life. For more information, visit www.fieldandstream.com and www.outdoorlife.com.