PORT ANGELES — Bill Paquin of Port Angeles is one lucky duck.
Paquin’s yellow rubber duck — one of more than 29,500 entered into Sunday’s 27th annual Great Olympic Peninsula Duck Derby — was the first to float over the finish line, earning Paquin a choice between a 2016 Tacoma pickup truck or Corolla donated by Wilder Toyota of Port Angeles.
The derby was at the Lincoln Park ponds.
Paquin was not present when his victory was announced, and could not immediately be reached by phone.
In total, 45 prizes worth about $25,000 were up for grabs this year with proceeds benefiting the Olympic Medical Center Foundation and the Sequim Rotary Club’s charitable projects.
“Most of it goes to the hospital” and is “typically spent on medical equipment,” said Rick Smith, co-chairman of the 27th event, before the race.
The race began as a dump truck full of rubber ducks, which was parked on the bank above the pond, upended its load.
The rush of ducklings were pushed down a chute by streams of water from firehoses operated by firefighters with Port Angeles Fire Department and Clallam County Fire District No. 2.
Many of the ducks stubbornly got hung up in the chute, which was longer than in previous years because the pond has dried up throughout the past month, Smith said.
“It is a little challenging this year because the water level is down so much,” he said.
The horde of ducks that did enter the water at the beginning slowly inched across the pond toward the finish line, an advancing fleet of sun-glassed canards.
One by one, the first 45 ducks to cross the finish line were carefully documented and placed in plastic bags so they could be paired with their ticket owners.
Following the race, crews carefully corralled the ducks and removed them from the pond.
