It was a case of sink, swim or paddle.
By: Jane Karlicek
It was a case of sink, swim or paddle as nine cardboard canoes took to the water of the Princeton Community Park Pool on Thursday.
And while some of the cardboard vessels sank, forcing their paddlers to swim, others miraculously made it to the finish line.
The Princeton Recreation Department’s Summer Day Camp Program held its third annual cardboard canoe races Thursday as part of its last week of summer camp festivities.
The program runs from the end of June to the first week of August, and includes campers from first through sixth grades. The cardboard canoe race is limited to those campers who will be in fifth or sixth grade.
The canoe race "was the number-one thing on their minds when camp first started," said Mike Plias, trip coordinator and assistant activities director for the camp program. "They’ve waited six weeks for this day."
And you could tell.
Those campers not involved in the races sat on the hill by the Olympic-size swimming pool at Community Park, anxiously awaiting the arrival of the canoes.
Several campers even claimed they knew who would be the most successful. "I know whose going to win, the five/six boys, because they won last year," said 8-year-old Xavier Pierce.
While the spectators speculated who would win, the cardboard canoers held their boats over their heads and waited their turn. The cardboard canoes, which were made during the hour before the race, came in all shapes and sizes, one even had an outrigger. And all of them bore names made up by the groups that made them, including the "S.S. Rascal," "The Wetter the Better" and "The Dolphins," which came complete with dolphin fins on the sides of the canoe and slogans, one of which read, "The Fins are going to Win."
First there were three heats of three canoes each. When it came time for the final race, The S.S. Rascal began sinking near the starting line as the Nia Cruiser and The Rage battled their way to the finish line. In the end, the Nia Cruiser, paddled by 10-year-old Michelle Brown, defeated The Rage by a hair’s length.
"I was so excited to beat the boys," Michelle said after the race. Both The Rage and the S.S. Rascal were paddled by boys.
"We’ve never beat them (the boys) in the canoe race before."
Michelle said she was chosen to paddle the canoe because she was the lightest and she had taken canoe lessons at a sleep-away camp.
The canoe race was only a part of the second annual summer games Olympic festival which kicked off Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Mr. Plias declared the games open after the flag-carrying campers marchedaround the school’s gymnasium. First-grader Madeline Sverdlove raced around the gym with a crepe-paper Olympic torch.
The 150 campers were assigned to teams representing different countries. Each team wascalled to the front of the gym to answer questions about their country.
After Thursday’s canoe race, it was time to surprise pool directorLarry Ivan. All the campers had made him paper keys to put on a large key ring in appreciation for his 31 years of service and dedication to both the campers and the pool.
Staff Writer Jeff Milgram contributed to this report