US – The Great Columbus Duck Race (and Run)

On Saturday, August 29, 2015, several thousand participants and volunteers, including over 30 RRT personnel, gathered at Creekside in the Gahanna town center for the 4th annual Columbus Duck Race & Run.  This event, which benefits The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, features 5k and 10k races, children’s races and a rubber duck race on a nearby river.

The event started with over 300 people running the 5K and 10K races, around the beautiful five-acre Creekside Park. Best known for its waterfall and nostalgic picnic area, the park offered an unbeatable backdrop for the event. To track the timing of the runners, Speedy Sneakers assisted by attaching a timing chip to every runners shoe so it could accurately track their time and speed results.

The second race in the event was a short Fun Run for over 130 children. It was truly amazing to see such a young group helping to support the prevention of childhood diseases for the kids in their community and throughout the nation.

For the final race, each runner had received a free rubber duck with their race entry which was then loaded into the hopper of a soil/gravel spreading truck. The truck’s conveyor was then aimed out over the river and began launching the 9,225 ducks from the Creekside Marina into the murky currents that had them floating down the river. A team of volunteers waded behind these ducks to keep them moving as the course narrowed down to a point. The first three ducks to arrive at the point were taken out and carried back to a stage where everyone gathered around to hear who the winners were.

The grand prize for the owner of the winning duck was a one year lease on a BMW Mini Cooper, or the cash equivalent. The second place prize was $5,000 donated by the Crane Family Foundation and finally, the third place prize was $1,000 cash donated by DTZ Real Estate.

Rapid Relief Team volunteers assisted throughout the day – handing out water and refreshments to runners, and removing the timing chips of their shoes after their events.

As the event drew to a close, there was a general feeling that it had been a very enjoyable and successful day, one which the RRT was grateful and pleased to be able to assist with. After assisting with the event clean up.

A thanks from one of the organisers