Sorry about the delay in posting these results... it's been a hectic past few weeks up here! We held our annual Olympics at the end of August, just before most staff members would return home to begin another year of schooling. This year's Olympics did not disappoint. Last year, the winning team of the "Peuple Du Village" consisted of Marcel, Alex, Dave, and Elliot. Who would win it this year? The opening ceremonies of the Olympics once again featured the pageantry of individual entrances by the teams. Team costumes and themes are always kept secret from everyone so it is really a show to watch the teams arrive at the Bait & Tackle to show off this year's costumes. There were two groups of guests in camp who did not know what they were in for while waiting on the porch of the B&T! As you will see, they were able to participate in the games quite a bit and have requested to have this happen during their trip again next year! The four teams were as follows:

Aikens Lake All-Stars: Kik, Alex D, E2, Danica, and Tyler

Da Jets: David, Marcel, Réanne, Alex L

Whiskey Cats: Eric, JB, Josée, Griffin, Jesse

Brittany & The Beasts: Brittany, Elliot, Brad, Joel, Chad After the national anthem was sung in a mix of french and english, everyone made their way to the beach. With such low water and a beautiful beach, we decided that we should focus only on beach games. The first event was called the "Run & Chug Relay". Competitors raced to different coolers, downed a can of beer, and returned to the start line where the next team member would carry on the race. Despite worries about not drinking beer - let alone chugging it -Brittany handled herself very well. In the end, it was Da Jets that won this race rather handily.

The 2nd event was the bat twist. Having already downed a beer in the first event, the dizzying spins were made even trickier! Many of the staff either hit the water or the sand trying to find their way back to the start line. Da Jets and the Aikens All-Stars squared off in the finals. It looked like Da Jets had a healthy lead, but Tyler was able to make up a huge deficit as the final runner. Both Tyler and Réanne crossed the finish line for a photo finish. The judges (ie: guests) needed to discuss the play, and it was ultimately decided that Tyler's desperate leap got his foot over the line first. He won it by a foot... literally! The 3rd event was a good old fashioned tug-of-war. Despite having a good strategy, the Aikens All-Stars lost in the first heat. Having this competition at the water's edge meant that more people ended up in the water... including an innocent Pit who was intentionally corralled into the lake by the rope after the teams conspired to bring the competition into the lake instead of on the sand! In the end, Da Jets won the tug-of-war as well and appeared to have a healthy lead going into the last event. The final event was a really unique event. In the 15 years of Aikens Olympics, we have never involved the judges as much as we did this year. This final competition was a 10 minute timed session of sand castle/sand creation building. Teams had been warned this would be one of the events, and came in with plans and props already made up. It was really fun to see how creative the staff members were in putting together these pieces of art(?) After the 10 minutes, the teams each had a few minutes to present their idea to the judges and show off the concepts that went into the creation. Da Jets recreated the newly released Winnipeg Jets logo in the sand. The highlight was that they used dry sand to accentuate the logo over the wet sand. Unfortunately, this didn't help them in the voting. In 3rd place, the Whiskey Cats created a new Aikens legend, the Burbot-Shark. With a shaken beer can, the Burbot-Shark came alive as the blowhole spewed cold beer all over the beach. Although impressive, the judges unfortunately still passed on the idea. The creation that won 2nd place was a live exhibit molded into shape by the Aikens All-Stars. Danica was buried in the sand and then had a mermaid body sculpted around her, complete with a shell bra. In the end though, it was another mermaid concept that won it all. Brittany and the Beasts created a mermaid that had a bottle of Gibson's in one hand, and a fishing rod in the other. She was reeling in a stylized fish out of a little pond, and her tail was accentuated not only by sand, but also leaves that gave it the look of scales. Very clever indeed.

This year, there were secret bonus points awarded in several categories. The first was for originality of team concept. The Aikens All-Stars won this one as they each picked one of their favorite guests of the summer and dressed, acted, and spoke like their chosen person for the entire Olympics. For Ken Moody, Zeke Carlson, Art Wesselhoff, Charlie McCoy, and Steve Kuzmich, it would have been a riot for you to see your "impersonators" in action! Know that you guys are fan favorites up here. The best costume award went to Brittany & the Beasts. The guys somehow fashioned shorts out of leaves, twigs, and tree bark as part of the costume, and Brittany was her dashing self in her prom dress. They held true to their name! The final bonus points were awarded to the two teams who most accommodated the judges needs during the events (ie: refilling drinks and placing lawn chairs where needed - and even at one point creating shelter during a short downfall of rain!) Brittany and the Beasts took those points, with honorable mention to the All-Stars.

When the dust settled, only 1 point separated first from third. Da Jets and Brittany & The Beasts tied for 2nd place, and it was the Aikens All-Stars who took home top prize! Congratulations Kik, E2, Tyler, Danica, and Alex on your victory! Everyone in camp was invited to celebrate a great season and a great Olympics with an open bar night in Big Molly's. Our guests, having been so happy with the service and experience the staff had provided them not only that evening but for their entire stay, insisted on bartending for the staff all evening! Thank you very much to David and the rest of the guys from MO and IA. Watch out David, with that kind of service, you may well have become an Aikens All-Star in future events!

The Aikens Olympics