On beautifully sunny Saturday, October 10th, the Boy Scouts Prairielands Council held their first annual One Giant Leap leap frog tournament at West Side Park in Champaign. The event served as both a fundraiser for the Boy Scouts as well as a way to raise awareness of and generate more interest in scouting as a whole. “The Prairielands Council serves three thousand kids each year across nine counties in Illinois and Indiana,” said Tim Manard, member of the Council Executive Committee and event organizer. “We wanted this even to be another way that we could get in front of the public about the Scouts.”
Below, Tim Manard (white t-shirt) stands with some of his Scouts.
Below, what’s a leap frog tournament without frog costumes?
Below, the presentation of colors before the opening races.
The event opened at 10 a.m. for the leap frog teams to check in and for additional teams to be registered, with qualifying “runs” beginning shortly after 11 a.m. There were four divisions according to age, and a fifth division reserved for the winners of each of the previous. The rules were simple: Each time had a pair of members standing at opposite ends of a 10-yard long lane, and when the first pair of leapers made it to the end of the lane the second pair could start, with the winners being the team got their second pair across the finish line first!
Most of the time there were 3-4 teams racing at once out of just over 20 teams total, however the Expert Division (age 50+) definitely had fewer entrants- even if they were much better dressed.
After the qualifying runs, the competition took a break for about an hour to (presumably) allow the racers to recover from the arduous first round as well as to let everyone enjoy the other activities. There were your standard attractions such as your inflatables and food vendors, but also some unique opportunities for children to learn more about scouting activities such as fire building and pinewood derby as well as chances to visit with local police and fire personnel.
Below, learning about knots.
Below, Slot and Wing Hobbies had a drone on site, and it was definite hit!
Below, behold: THE RAMINATOR!
The championship races started at 12:30 p.m., with trophies going to the winning team of each division and a grand trophy for the overall winners, Crew 1 Team 1!
Below, when you’re too little to leap on your own, you get some adult help!
Below, members of the grand championship teams Crew 1 Team 1 and Loving Paws #1 show off their trophies!
While the event was scheduled to go until 3 p.m. it started to wind down around 2 p.m., even though the kids were still happy to run more pinewood derby races and have more food and snacks. We’re looking forward to more teams (and hilarity) next year; after all, someone has to try to de-throne the current champions!