The Grand Canmore Duck Race

The Grand Canmore Duck Race is a fund-raiser for the Bow Valley Wolverines football club. Two thousand brave and valiant yellow rubber duckies race along the segment of Policeman’s Creek between the 10th St and 8th St bridges. They are each numbered, with tickets sold for each duck, and the first three ducks across the line winning their owners a great bounty in prize money.

We arrived, and joined the throngs of spectators lining the river. And then wondered how on earth they were going to launch all the ducks – and where were they anyway? The race was due to start about now…

 

Aha, so this is where the 2000 ducks are going to come from! It’s the lesser known “throw the competitors in the water from the scoop of a front-end loader” method of starting a race.

 

 

Ducks start pouring into Policeman’s Creek, and the race begins

 

 

More cascading ducks. Some just land straight onto the rocks at the edge – bad luck ducks.

 

 

Ducks away!

 

 

And they’re off and racing!

 

 

Expectant spectators wait at the finish line… bridge

 

 

About half of the ducks make it through the first half of the course, and are racing along the far side of the creek. The seagulls and non-plastic ducks studiously ignore them.

 

 

After some wind issues in the doldrums, with the race going backwards for a while, the mass of ducks make their way towards the finishing line.

 

Our duck did not win. Sadly I don’t even know if he managed to finish the race – many didn’t.

 

The race over, everyone scrambles about on the far side of the bridge trying to collect the escaping ducks (handing 3 teenage boys a canoe and a net was probably not the most effective way to recapture hundreds of ducks)