The 16th Annual Aikens Olympics : Another Success!

When the hype of the Olympic Games in London was over, Aikens had the chance to have their own series of athletic events at their annual Aikens Olympics. This year marked the 16th anniversary of this prestigious competition. Step aside high jump, tennis and triathlon, these next events will truly raise the bar.

With just a few guests in camp, Sunday, August 19th, was the perfect night to host the Olympics. After dinner, the teams rushed to apply the final touches to their costumes for the opening ceremonies at 7:45 sharp. The teams were picked out of hat a few days before to give everyone enough time to get creative and figure out an original team name and create a costume. There was quite the buzz going on around camp for the few days leading up to the event. Some teams had met and decided on everything right off the hop, while others were scrambling the day of the Olympics. But when 7:45 hit on that warm Sunday evening, all the teams showed up on time with appropriate attire and eager to get the competition started.

Arriving first were The P’tits Trudel (The Little Trudels) dressed up as babies. This dream-team, consisting of Danica, Elliot, Alex, Jesse L and Marcel, were not messing around when they chose to wear diapers; it was for maximum flexibility. The next team rolled in full-character as the Atikaki Park Patrols. Dressed-up as the hunter, Bruno started the colorful entrance when he was trying to hunt Eric, who was dressed up as a black-bear. Little did he know that he was illegally hunting in a provincial park, so cue the Park Patrols : Brittany, Chad and Jesse P.! They get props for staying in character all night and handing out tickets whenever they had a chance! Next up, through a cloud a smoke, appeared Elsie and the Ghosbusters. Réanne, dressed as our resident ghost Elsie, came running out of the Portage (where we believe the ghost of Elsie lives) being chased by the Ghostbusters Griffin, Kik, JB and Étienne. Very dramatic entrance! And finally, what we thought were the B&T Chip Team arrived : Josée, Brad, Dave, E2 and Ben. Josée came up to explain their team name and that’s when were all hit with a surprise. They were not bags of chips, she explained (cue the music, rip-off their chip-bag costumes), they were the Chippendales! And the crowd went wild!

After singing the National Anthem, the games officially began. The first event was the “Shot, Sock & Beet” which consisted of one team member at a time taking a shot, running across a field to their other team members who would then tie a rope around their waist that had a sock with a beet inside hanging from it. The competitor then had to run back to the middle of the field where he or she had to knock over an empty bottle with their “beet-sock” without using their hands but only by thrusting their hips and making their sock swing. After knocking down the bottle, they ran back to their team and the next team member would start all over again until the whole team had gone through. It was a close (and hilarious) race, but Elsie and the Ghostbusters took the lead, with Les P’tits Trudel finishing a close second.

The next event is an Aikens favorite : Flip Cup! Two teams stand on opposite sides of a table facing each other, each with a plastic cup filled with beer in front of them. A toast initiates the first players to chug their beer and place their cup on the edge of the table right side up. They must then try and flip their cup so that it lands upside up. Once the cup is successfully flipped (usually takes a few tries) it cues the next player to start chugging their beer, so on and so forth. Whichever team finishes drinking and flipping all its cups first, wins. Since this is a classic Aikens game, we had some very strong players on each team. The Chippendales, in a very close round robin, took the lead in this competition!

The third event was called the Animal Challenge. Each team had 8 minutes to create two animals out of towels. They all had instructions and pictures, so all they had to was follow the instructions and fold! Sounds simple, but it was harder than it looked. They also had to incorporate a beer can and a prop into their designs. When the time was up, the judges took a walk around the table to closely examine each animal. In the end, the Smoking Elephant created by Les P’tits Trudel stole the judges’ hearts and won them first place!

And finally, the last event of the night was the Mushroom. A very simple game which consists of delicately placing a deck of card on the neck of a bottle, one card at a time. The twist is that every time someone adds a card, two corners of that card must be showing, therefore forcing the playing area off the neck of the bottle, creating a mushroom. Each team had their own mushroom to make and would add cards at the same time. Once cards start to fall off the mushroom, the team is eliminated from the event. We lost the Atikaki Park Patrols after only 3 cards. Soon after, the Chippendales were eliminated. Elsie’s team and Les P’tits Trudel were neck and neck. Each team went through a full deck and a half of cards, creating quite a solid mushroom base. But in the end, clumsy JB knocked off his pile of cards and les P’tits Trudel won the challenge!

Usually, we don’t have to move to a sudden death elimination round, but there was tie! Les P’tits Trudel, who were winning challenges left and right but had failed miserably during the Flip Cup tournament were tied with Elsie & the Ghostbusters, who were keeping the pace with their high scores. The tie-breaker challenge was to create a drink for one of our guests that would be judged on taste, original name and presentation. Les P’tits Trudel made a beautiful drink called the Hook-Set, complete with a fishing rod made of celery that was fishing in a blue shooter. What a presentation! Elsie & the Ghostbusters came back with vengeance creating a tropical cocktail in a flashing martini glass called the El Quencho. Each team had done their research and knew that our guest judge loved tequila so they both incorporated it into their drink. After much deliberation, it’s the original presentation and the taste of the Hook-Set that what won les P’tits Trudel the challenge, making them the 2012 Olympic Winners! Congratulations!