By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
While a few of the competitions at the Galion Pickle Run Festival adhered to rules, Saturday evening was a little bit different with the Anything Goes competition.
Six teams in two divisions, corporate and community, competed against one another for bragging rights as Anything Goes Champions as they competed across six obstacle laden events with a pickle theme. When the dust settled, facing a 75 to 75 tie at the end of the plank race, the community championship between Gracepoint and The Poor Unfortunate Souls had to be settled with a bonus competition of balancing a pickle the longest around Unkrich Stadium.
In the end it was The Poor Unfortunate Souls claiming the victory as Connor Moreton held the pickle on the forehead the longest. Moreton explained what was going through his mind as he balanced the pickle.
“The way we decided is who would deal with the most pressure and who can balance things on their head. Well, I am a field goal kicker and I play soccer so I guess I was a good combo,” Moreton said. “The entire time I was looking up at the clouds and kind of just scanning things so I wouldn’t get bored, and my teammate Ron Kempf was helping me follow with his hands so I could stay focused.”
Moreton noted that the competition was just one way for the Galion Theatre Company to spread the word about their production of “The Little Mermaid Jr.”
“It feels amazing picking up the win, because the whole reason why we are here is to let everyone know that we are having a great show this summer. August 5, 6, and 7 are the show dates and we are just really excited for that as well,” Moreton added.
On the corporate side of the competition, it was Flick Packaging taking the title as Anything Goes Champions. Head of the Flick Packaging team, Erik Flick joked about the training that they had put forth for the competition.
“It has been six months of intense training, we picked it up in early January at the beginning of the year,” Flick said. “We knew it was going to be some strong competition this year, but in the end we figured it was going to take dedication, long hours, and just a good team. I think we are going to be tuned up for Nationals.”
The event was organized by Jeanie Rinehart. Rinehart explained what went into planning the Anything Goes competition.
“Actually, they did such a great job last year that we are doing many of the same games,” Rinehart said.
The Anything Goes competition began with a 4×100 tricycle race around the track. The second showcase of skills was a sack race, followed by digging for pickles. The fourth event featured a three-legged obstacle course race, followed by a blindfolded pickle eating contest. The Anything Goes competition closed out with a plank race before the Community Division needed the pickle balancing competition to declare a winner.
Related content: Pickle Run Festival Anything Goes