PORT TOWNSEND — The Great Port Townsend Bay Kinetic Skulpture Race starts at “low noon” today, with about 20 vehicles powered by anything but engines making their way through water, sand and mud.
Vehicles paraded through Port Townsend on Saturday and will begin lining up at the American Legion Hall at 209 Monroe St. at 10:30 a.m. today for the race that will extend from downtown to Fort Worden to the Jefferson County Fairgrounds.
“People are coming together from Canada to California, like a wacky family reunion,” said Selena Espinoza, the only person to have been twice selected the event’s Rose Hips Kween during the race’s 31-year history.
‘Show-and-tell’
“It’s a show-and-tell: ‘See what I made,’” she said, “and they are all engineering geniuses.”
A kinetic skulpture is a human-powered, “artistically enhanced” vehicle that must go through sand and mud, float on water and traverse hilly neighborhoods, according to the website at www.ptkineticrace.org.
The racers push off at noon from the American Legion Hall.
At about 1 p.m., racers will reach the first checkpoint at the Port Townsend Salmon Club ramp near the Northwest Maritime Center at 431 Water St.
At about 1:30 p.m., they will reach the Fort Worden State Park beach for the kwick sand race before taking off for the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, 4907 Landes St., to slough through the Dismal Bog.
Dismal Bog mud race
The vehicles are expected to arrive at the Dismal Bog for the mud race between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m., Espinoza said.
At about 3:30 p.m., they will pay homage to the Kosmic Rooster at Cedar Street off San Juan Avenue, and at about 5 p.m., they are expected to reach the final checkpoint at the former site of Kinetic Coffee at 520 Kearney St.
The last leg of the race will be down Water Street to the American Legion Hall for an awards ceremony at 5:30 p.m.
The most highly prized award in the race is the Mediocrity Award for the contestant who finishes exactly in the middle.
After awards are handed out, racers will go indoors at the American Legion for a “survivors party.”
For more information, visit www.ptkineticrace.org.
