It was smiles, shrieks and splashes as two dozen youth competed in the inaugural Delta Career Fair Boat Race.
Six teams from across Delta had two hours to build their crafts out of nothing more than cardboard and duct tape before racing them the length of Sungod Recreation Centre pool.
The teams competed for cash prizes courtesy of sponsors Ocean Trailer, Fortis BC, Seaspan and Quadrant Marine Institute.
Team Mythic Reborn (pictured), made up of Delta Secondary School seniors (from left) Kyle Saunders (17), Nyssa Hansen (18), Lucien Lambert (18) and Joshua Dale (17), took home the grand prize of $2,800 with a blistering time of 27.34 seconds.
“It felt absolutely amazing. It just went by so fast, it didn’t even feel like a second,” said Saunders, who piloted the team’s craft to victory.
“It feels pretty great,” added teammate Lambert. “I mean, definitely I was a little bit shocked seeing the other competition was really tight, and it was really kinda surprising that everything worked out as well as we thought it would.”
The team said the key to their success was careful planning, including a not-so-dry run beforehand.
“We made a boat yesterday and just tested it on the waters near [Deas] Slough, just to see where to tape properly and where to put the most tape,” Dale said.
Hansen said the team plans to put the money towards school, joking that were it hers alone the prize might go to a very different cause.
“If it were up to me, hmm…shoes, probably?” she said. “I don’t know, it’s a lot of money.”
The Famous Bean Gals, (pictured) comprised of Burnsview Secondary Grade 10 students (from left) Anna Makarenko (15), Deneile Burbank (15), Angie Broad (15) and Jennifer Shudo (15) came in second with a time of 32.4 seconds, good enough to earn them $1,600.
Jazzy and the Squad (pictured below), a team made up of lifeguards-in-training (clockwise, from left) Jessica Klein (17), Jastej Arora (17), Sofia Ameri (16) and Meghan Lindsay (17), won the fans’ choice award, taking home $800.
