Rita: Wet Race

Today was race day. A classic Tijimbat event held every program, ‘The Big Race Around Minyerri! This year, there was a twist: it rained. It started pouring yesterday afternoon around 3pm, and continued through the night. This morning we woke to big sprawling puddles on the roads and grey clouds threatening a further display of the great wet. Pushing concerns aside, we continued to prepare for the race as planned. After all, a bit of rain never hurt anyone.

The race had five stations, each manned by an Activity Leader, and consisted of a ‘Speed Bump’ and a ‘Challenge’. For those of you familiar with the television show the The Amazing Race, the ‘Speed Bump’ is our take on a ‘Road Block’. Here the kids are asked to solve a maths problem before they can begin the ‘Challenge’. The ‘Challenge’ is the task they need to complete before they receive the clue that reveals the location of the next station.  The first team to arrive at the final station wins.

After splitting the 32 kids into five teams, we were off! As my job was to follow the kids around and take photos, I was able to have a sneak peak at every station.

My first stop was Gunners, who had set up a precarious see-saw with buckets filled with water that had to be balanced. This turned out to be quite a challenge as the see-saw’s pivot turned out to be highly temperamental.

Next, I visited Georgi, who had turned a classroom into an obstacle course. The competitor is blindfolded with the goal of finding the purple nugget. Obstacles included a sea of ping pong balls that were not all destroyed, as well as tunnels and deadly spike strips. This year it had the addition of  ‘Magic Water’ that was sprayed on the left or right of the blinded person’s face to direct them.

Tash had set up a ‘Word Race’ where the kids had to follow a yarn obstacle course, decipher literacy clues and roll in the mud.

 

Jason had created a massive spider web in the trees by the billabong. Here, every person on the team had to pass though a different hole in the web without touching it. The boys literally jumped at the opportunity to use their advanced acrobatic skills – particularly Alwyn, whose attempt to superman himself through the highest hole brought the entire web crashing down.

Morgan hosted an eating competition. The dry Weet-Bix race is always a popular event, and this time it was paired with a baked bean heat where the kids ate cold beans off plates without using their hands. This is an ever-popular station as racing is a hungry business. At the expense of precious racing time, seconds were served.

When the raced ended when the finish line was crossed by a mob of soaked and muddy kids. That pesky wet season rain had returned!