Scott Meder, a Marine from Naval Base Kitsap, gives a racing duck a toss as he attempted to push the mass of ducks closer to shore so they could be collected by other volunteers to be cleaned up. - Photo by Jesse Beals
Photo by Jesse Beals
Scott Meder, a Marine from Naval Base Kitsap, gives a racing duck a toss as he attempted to push the mass of ducks closer to shore so they could be collected by other volunteers to be cleaned up.

Racing ducks go fast


June 11, 2008 · Updated 1:55 PM 

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If you showed up 10 minutes late to Sunday’s Great Kitsap Duck Race, you were quack out of luck.

A combination of a rising tide and a strong incoming breeze moved the flotilla of nearly 24,000 sunglasses-sporting rubber ducks from their cage on the Hood Canal Oyster Co.’s boat to the finish tube in a record five minutes.

“It went really well — that’s the important part,” said Ken Burdette, chairman of this year’s race for the Rotary Club of Silverdale.

None of the seven randomly picked ducks crossed the finish line first to make their adopted parents instant millionaires, but Michelle Hart of Bremerton did become the owner of a new Toyota Tacoma Truck courtesy of lead sponsor Heartland Toyota when her blue-billed duck was the first to cross the finish line.

This year’s race set an even more important record as Rotarians nearly ran out of ducks with nearly 23,700 of the available 24,000 adopted.

“This is the closest we’ve come to actually selling them all,” said Rotarian Scott Slocum. “We’re all very pleased with this. This is outstanding.”

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