Eagle Medallion Hunt medallion found by couple who just recovered from COVID-19

After 10 days cooped up in COVID quarantine, Paula Langworthy needed an excuse to get out of the house Friday afternoon.

Around 4:15 p.m., while scrolling through news articles, she stumbled on The Eagle Medallion Hunt, an annual Wichita tradition that coincides with Riverfest. Friday was the last day of this year’s five-day competition.

Some seekers spend days deciphering daily clues and dozens of hours scouring the city on a quest for a small medallion.

But Langworthy, an attorney from Derby, and her husband, Kurt, found the medallion within two hours of reading this year’s clues. They said they had never before participated in an Eagle medallion hunt.

“We just got lucky,” Paula said.

“It’s kind of embarrassing, really,” Kurt said. “People have been working hard at it all day for five days and we found it in an hour and a half, two hours tops.”

Paula and Kurt, both vaccinated, recently had breakthrough cases of COVID-19. Being healthy enough to hunt the medallion was as good as the $1,000 prize, they said.

“It was just really nice getting to go outside,” Paula said.

The Langworthys located the medallion just after 6 p.m. at the Big Arkansas River Park in a pile of pine needles beneath a tree. The clue that tipped them off was “big diversion” in Day 5.

“We said, ‘That’s got to be the Big Ditch,’” Kurt said.

The married couple had initially started their search at Wichita State University, based on another clue. But it didn’t feel right.

After an internet search of Wichita parks, they decided to check out the Big Arkansas River Park, near 21st and West, where a dedication to the M.S. “Mitch” Mitchell Floodway — better known as The Big Ditch — was constructed by the city in 2019.

Once they arrived at the park, some of the other clues started to make sense.

“We got out of the car, and there’s this big group of trees — four big trees,” Paula said. “And I’m thinking, ‘Leaves of four, you’re close to the score.’”

“Then off to the side was this dead pine tree,” Paula said.

“A little bitty, gnarly looking tree that had a bunch of overhang,” Kurt said.

Someone had apparently already checked in the pine needles under the tree. But the Langworthys figured it was worth searching.

“I wasn’t going to be satisfied until all the pine needles were moved and I saw bare dirt,” Kurt said.

The medallion was in hand within 10 minutes of getting out of the car, Kurt said.

“I was kind of hoping it would last a little longer since I wanted to be outside,” Paula said.

This story was originally published October 2, 2021 at 9:04 AM.