The home waters proved bountiful as the Mount Holly Rotary Club won the top prize of $2,500 in the district's duck race for polio eradication on Sunday afternoon, October 18.

A couple hundred Rotarians from near and far enjoyed a beautiful afternoon of steel drum music and recreational activities on the shores of the Catawba River at Tailrace Marina in Mount Holly before the race began. About ten clubs set up vendor and information tables. Clubs sold refreshments, Rotary logo shirts, and purple polio "pinkie fingers." Charlotte South Park President Jim Larsen challenged softball hurlers to dump him in the dunk tank. Children worked on their hula hoop skills. Visitors were treated to pontoon boat rides up and down the river, and rented canoes and kayaks. Friends and visitors feasted on Antony's Caribbean fare, Alfred & Charlie's barbecue, and Italian ice.

A dozen or more high school Interact students helped staff the booths, and rode kayaks to retrieve ducks after the event.

All the while, the number of ducks being adopted for the race continued to rise throughout the afternoon, eventually topping out at about 3,300 as PDG and event organizer Bob Wilson called them to the water.

They were all dumped in a wire mesh basket rigged to the front of a pontoon boat, ready to be release upriver. But ducks and handlers got a little nervous as PDG Bob Wilson, who organized the event, expressed doubt about the strength of the current. The anticipated daily discharge of water from the Cowan's Ford dam seemed to be absent. After further deliberations, the official pontoon boat headed upstream anyway in anticipation that the needed current was on its way. Spectators lined the boat slips to await the start and witness the spectacle.

Alas! The current never did appear. Everyone waited for a change in the water, and expressed hope that the current would build before darkness fell! With no real assurance of that eventuality, members of the peanut gallery suggested an alternative format, which boat pilot Wilson and DG Firoz Peera authorized. Instead of dumping the ducks upstream, the duck boat was driven back to the spectator area, and the ducks were all released in the still water there.

Interact students in kayaks paddled through through the mass a few times to stir them up, then started plucking ducks from the water and announcing the winning numbers inscribed on their derrieres. The ducks were sorry not to be able to show off their speed, but everyone agreed the static water procedure was an equally equitable way to select the winners.

The hometown Mount Holly Rotarians on hand were delighted to have adopted the winning duck, and their good fortune proved the wisdom of their volume handicapping strategy. In fact, the club had adopted a total of about 220 ducks!

In addition to the grand prize, "lucky duck" prizes of $250 went to about 10 other duck adopters.

The proceeds from the event will help District 7680 meet its pledge to the Gates Foundation/Rotary effort to finally eliminate polio. District polio chair Graham Wilson noted that Rotarians will have additional chances to test their luck to benefit the polio fight. A district-wide raffle is beginning in November and will continue until the district conference in early May. Increasingly valuable cash prizes will be awarded each month, and a final draw at the conference will be held for a $20,000 new car, a $5,000 Harley-Davidson motorcycle, and a $1,000 mountain bike.

Wilson said he is hoping each Rotarian in the district will sell four tickets at a price of $20 each or three for $50 or seven for $100. If that goal is met, Wilson said the district will raise $100,000 for the polio effort.

CAPTIONS:

1) PDG Bob Wilson and district membership chair Chuck Sawicki with Marvin Ridge Interact students (l-r) Josh Chamberlain, David Smith, and Zach Sawicki.

2) For a buck, Rotarians could have their pinkie finger stained purple. An identical procedure is used in areas of polio eradication to indicate that a person has already been vaccinated.

3) The beautiful Tailrace Marina stretches a quarter-mile along the west bank of the Catawba River within a mile of downtown Mt. Holly, and includes 192 boat slips.

4) And they're off! As the ducks are released, Interact kayakers begin their approach.