We have had a busy and eventful final week of the three-week session. The Ak-o-Mak Regatta was held last Thursday and the whole camp participated! Each race began out at orange rock and ended at the diving tower. Campers had the option of racing in C1, K1, C2, and K2 boats throughout the morning session. After the serious races were over, we ended the morning session with a fun sea kayak race. The afternoon session consisted of C4, K4, and war canoe. We ended the afternoon session with a fun stand up paddleboard race. It was wonderful to see our campers challenge themselves as they explored paddling competitively. Paddling is an up and coming sport for girls and is an excellent cross-training option for our swimmers.
This week we also held our annual mountain bike race! This race began at the Pavilion, continued on to our “Fun Cross” trail, looped on to our short cross trail, and ended as the campers cut across the field for a finish at the basketball court. Each camper had the opportunity to complete the race two times, their best time was then entered in as their result. For those that were particularly passionate, there was also a few bonus laps completed. Everyone brought their competitive spirit to the race and enthusiastically participated. We had a camp record set on the course this year as one of our oldest campers biked the course in a record-breaking 3 minutes and 45 seconds. It was a thrill to watch and be a part of this event!
Our team comp challenges heated up as the end of camp drew near. On Saturday, campers competed in our Amazing Race Challenge. This event is based on the TV Show and consists of campers travelling to various destinations around camp and competing in crazy fun tasks! The campers visited the shipwreck of the Titanic where they scuba dived for artifacts (orange rocks!!!). Then they raced to Mount Everest where they piggybacked their partner up our steepest hill. The campers emulated Penny Oleksiak as they headed to Tokyo to compete in a swimming challenge. The pace picked up when the teams arrived in Kenya and raced to the end of Ak-o-Mak road and back. The final destination was Bali where a pickleball match was held with our large blue stability balls. It was pretty hilarious to watch! All of our teams completed the Amazing Race and learned so much about teamwork in the process. Monday was set aside for our annual treasure hunt. This event took all afternoon and involved all kinds of skills. Campers ran, paddled, swam, and used their investigative skills to solve and find all the clues in our treasure hunt. It was a spirited event and made the team competition a very close race.
Tuesday was our last full day at camp with all of our three-week campers. For early bird campers had the option to war canoe, swim, run, or hike to the treehouse. In the morning, Cabin Four enjoyed their final gymnastic class together, Cabin Three competed in a spike ball tournament, while Cabin One and Two played tennis against each other! The afternoon will be spent packing their belongings and preparing for our banquet to end the session. We have thoroughly enjoyed having all of our three-week campers at camp. It was a pleasure to see them smile and have fun in the sun, we will miss them when they go!