Great Race | 06880

For a number of years, Sunrise Rotary has sponsored a Great Duck Race. It’s a fun fundraiser — you bet on rubber duckies that are dumped into the Saugatuck River. The day is filled with kids’ activities like a bouncy house, a climbing wall and dunk tank.

This year’s event — on Saturday, June 13 — will be preceded by a 5K run, sponsored by Staples High School’s Interact community service club.

It’s a wonderful town event — something that makes money for good causes, and brings plenty of Westporters together.

But those who were here back in the day remember its predecessor: the Great Race. That was to the current incarnation as Gloria Gaynor is to Taylor Swift.

You don’t believe me? Check out this video.

You can see a lot of bizarre stuff on YouTube. But this ranks right up there.

In tones befitting Marlon Perkins on “Wild Kingdom” — or, this century, an endangered-species documentary on the National Geographic Channel — a narrator breathlessly describes what seems to be a very odd tradition in our coastal community.

“Just another lazy day along the river in Westport, Connecticut,” the 1977* video begins. “Except that this is the day of the Great Race.”

After describing the event — a 1-mile run, a 3-mile row or paddle out to Cockenoe Island, picking up 1 pound of garbage, then rowing or paddling back for a 1st-place prize of $1,000 — the narrator declares that on Great Race Day, Westport is the center of “high international drama.” (Cut to an interview with an Australian guy.)

Just a couple of Great Racers being interviewed.

There are classic quotes — “We run to the liquor store to get our bodies in shape” — interspersed with vintage shots of downtown, and the not-sure-if-it’s-tongue-in-cheek-or-not description of a team that trained “in a handmade aluminum craft for an entire year, just for this race.”

In fact, I’m not sure if the entire video is serious, a satire, or just a goof. When you see 2 teams fighting over a piece of garbage on Cockenoe, you’ll wonder too.

Running down Taylor Place, to the start at the Post Road bridge.

Running down Taylor Place, to the boat launch at the Post Road bridge.

But — as the narrator notes — “constant seamanship and vigilance” were keys to winning the Great Race.

And, at the end, “the townspeople have come together with their picnic lunches to cheer and debate their favorites. The memories will keep for a whole year.”

See you June 13 at the Great Duck Race!

Paddling …

…and partying at a house on the river, as the racers go by.

*YouTube says the video is from 1977. However, the bicentennial flag, and several comments, would indicate it is actually from 1976.

(Hat tips: Jack Whittle, Ted Friedman, Rich Stein)

Tomorrow’s 4th annual Great Duck Race (Saturday, June 30) is a great excuse to go downtown.

Starting at 10 a.m., there’s here’s children’s arts and crafts, face painting, a bounce castle, “duck decorating,” music and food.

At 1 p.m. 3000 ducks — each with a number — will be dropped into the Saugatuck River near the Post Road Bridge. A boom will be pulled away; they’ll “race” 200 feet. (Fear not: The ducks are made of “an environmentally sensitive compound.”)

Dumping the ducks into the boom.

If a duck you bought ($20 each) with your number is one of the 1st 10, you’ll win a prize. First prize is a $5,000 Visa gift card; 2nd prize is a $1,000 card, and 3rd through 10th are $500 Visa cards. (You don’t have to be present to win.)

All well and good (and for a good cause: Westport Sunrise Rotary, and all their good works).

But Westporters with long memories remember a different “Great Race.” And the racers were humans, not ducks.

The 1st Great Race was held in 1976, as part of America’s bicentennial celebration. It lasted a few years.

In 1991, Sunrise Rotary resurrected it. It was an all-hands-0n deck competition. Kayaks, canoes, dinghies, windsurfers, catamarans — and everything else, from Tom Sawyer rafts, to boats in the shape of Smurfs and Elvis, to science experiment failures — were launched from the library park.

They made their way (hopefully) to Cockenoe Island. There, sailors dodged rats and gnats as they picked up a trash bag of garbage.

Every July from 1991 to 1999, Great Racers cleaned up garbage.

Then — powered only by their own muscle (and, sometimes, prodigious amounts of beer) — they returned to the Post Road bridge. Prizes were awarded for fastest time, most garbage and silliest boat.

The event required tons of work. Sunrise Rotary member Pete Wolgast quickly ascended the Great Race organizational ladder. One year after overseeing Port-o-Potties, he was general manager.

The job entailed everything from finding the right day (the tide had to be high around noon) to overseeing the Jesup Green fair. There were live bands, plus 15 to 20 booths featuring face painting, horse rides, slides, a dunk tank and food stands. (The Daughters of the British Empire sold strawberries and cream.)

The Great Race also included skydiver Howard Burling (the former Westport cop aimed for a spot between the green and the river), and post office booth to cancel special Great Race stamps designed by local artists. For a while, the race itself was even broadcast on WICC.

During its time the Great Race raised well over $100,000, which the Sunrise Rotary distributed to local and international charities.

In 1999 Pete became president of Sunrise Rotary. No one had all the time needed to organize the Great Race, so it was “suspended.” (The club turned to a more traditional fundraiser: a wine tasting.)