By ALIN HETT
Hays Post
All photos by Alin Hett/Hays Post
The Hays Duck Derby returned to the Hays Aquatic Park for its 11th year, bringing together families, local businesses and community members for an evening of friendly competition while raising money to support Kansas Big Brothers Big Sisters' mentoring programs in Ellis County.
The annual fundraiser featured around 6,200 rubber ducks, according to Jenny Bates, area director for Kansas Big Brothers Big Sisters. The rubber ducks raced through the water for a chance to win prizes, with proceeds benefiting one-to-one mentoring relationships for local youth. Ducks competed in two preliminary heats before the top 500 from each race advanced to the championship.
Bates said the Duck Derby began as a new fundraiser for the organization and has grown into a community tradition.
"It's turned into a great community event that people love to be involved in,” Bates said. “Either through sponsoring or buying ducks and trying to win prizes.”
The championship race awarded prizes to the first 10 ducks to cross the finish line, including a $10,000 grand prize. Additional prizes were also awarded to top finishers.
10th place: Mark Bigge, 9th place: Jamie Malone, 8th place: Amanda Eschliman, 7th place: Shelly Hejny, 6th place: Kevin Swayne, 5th place: Amy Bird, 4th place: Chloe Sillman, 3rd place: Vicki Koates, 2nd place: Mark Lang, 1st place: Brett Denham
The evening also featured the Duck Dash, giving children ages 17 and younger an opportunity to race brightly colored ducks of their own. Participants kept their ducks following the race while competing for a variety of prizes.
Kansas Big Brothers Big Sisters serves more than 200 children in Ellis County each year through one-to-one mentoring relationships. The local program currently has about 160 mentoring matches, according to Bates.
"When people buy their ducks, their donation 100% stays with the mentoring program," Bates said.
Youth can participate through either the organization's community-based or school-based mentoring programs.
Another highlight was the Sink or Sail Cardboard Regatta, where teams representing local businesses and organizations raced homemade boats constructed entirely from cardboard and duct tape. The crowd cheered on competitors as teams attempted to stay afloat while racing across the pool.
There was a total of eight boats, including teams from High Plains Baptist Church, the Department of Water Resources, Midwest Energy, Cloud Storage, Werth Wealth Management, the Hays Fire Department, Sunflower Bank and High Plains Farm Credit.
The winner of the first Heat was Midwest Energy, and the winner of the second Heat was the Hays Fire Department. The overall and official winner was determined by which team had the faster time. Midwest Energy won with a time of 41.99 seconds. The Hays Fire Department placed second overall with a time of 46.77 seconds.
