The Aikens Olympics

  Another year means another olympic event at Aikens Lake!  Many of you are familiar with our annual "Little Hammered Olympics".  It's a day of fun and competition as we seperate the staff into four teams and hold events to determine the champions of Aikens Lake!  First off, the teams: The Hammered Hillbillies:  Tyler, Aisha, Aaron, Nick, Luke The Crew: Michelle (dressed as Leo), David (dressed as Elise), Jesse (dressed as Marcel), and Eric (dressed as Trevor) The Shots: Kik, Elise, Points, Bruno, Marteen Mother Trucker Construction: Trevor, Griff, Marcel, Janelle, Sarah         We were lucky enough to find a night to do the Olympics on a night where we didn't have any guests in camp.  It was a quirk in the booking schedule that worked out perfectly for this event!  We started earlier than usual, with the opening ceremonies at 2:30 PM.  The teams introduced themselves, with none getting more laughs than "The Crew".  Seeing them come in dressed as different members of our staff was hilarious!  They even stole the clothes of those who were being imitated to make sure the impressions were bang on! The games started out with the volleyball tournament.  It was a hotly contested game with the Shots taking out the Crew in the finals.  Soccer was next on the docket.  This time, the Crew came back to win in a shootout against the Truckers.  Points and Marcel were exceptional in goal stopping nearly 10 shots each in the shootout!  We were then able to breakto reenergize with a supper of burgers and hotdogs.      When the games resumed after dinner, we had three more events to help determine the 2009 champs.  Unfortunately with Pit, Julie, and Pat all needing to be judges for these events we never did get photos.   However, we can tell you that the Truckers were successful by winning the first two... the Sock & Ball relay and the ever-popular bat twist race!  For what was to be the grand finale, we had the water baloon toss.  A simple toss and catch with your teammate over the volleyball net.  Each team had been graded on how much they bribed the judges.  This could mean anything from fixing a new drink to fetching a chair or even changing the song if a judge deemed that they didn't like it!  The Truckers had a huge lead in this department, and were rewarded with the most balloons for the event.  However, they quickly gave up that lead as Griffin broke a balloon before the event even started!   Many tosses went over the nets and many balloons broke.  Slowly but surely teams got eliminated as their final balloons burst.  The Shots came from behind to win the event as Marteen deftly captured the last balloon while Nick from the Hillbillies had his burst on the same throw.  This created a 3-way tie for first place, with only the Hillbillies out of contention.             The tie-breaker was finally decided upon, but not after much deliberation.  A timed race around compost island by canoe would seperate the champs from the chumps.   Only two members from each team would participate.  The first ones out of the gate were the Truckers (Trevor and Marcel), bringing in a blazing time of 2:18.  The Shots were next, with Kik and Bruno paddling hard, but they came up just short at 2:31.  The final chance for the win went to the Crew.  Jesse and David were paddling their hearts out and had a chance to win, but in their eagerness one bad shift in weight caused the canoe to tip over only 50 yards from the dock!  The Truckers were champs!     Thanks to everyone for a wonderful day of fun and laughter, and congratulations to the winning team.  The olympics are a great tradition at Aikens, and they always showcase the creativity and youthful energy of our tremendous staff.  Finally, a special congratulation to Marcel, the first ever 3-in-a-row winner of the Olympics.  Is a Four-Peat on the way in 2010?!?  Tune in next year...