Scott Turner
In Motion Staff Writer
Scott Turner/In Motion
Lori Lemoine, Supervisor of Co-Curricular Activities at Daytona State, has continued the tradition of hosting Crab Racing from her predecessor.
“The crab races have been an annual event since before I took up the position here five years ago. It’s a fun event that’s free of charge that we put on to give a fun activity for the students to do during lunch.” Lemoine said.
Jim Morgan has been hosting the Crab Races at Daytona State for the past several years, and was happy to share the details of the event.
“I’ve been doing this for six or seven years now, and it’s a lot of fun. Those who are interested line up and pick a hermit crab, then give it a name. They follow that crab through each race, where we put them under a bowl in the center of the table, then lift it up and whichever crab reaches the outer circle first is the winner. There are 12 heat races, then the winners of those 12 have a championship race at the end, and the first, second, and third place winners get a prize. All three get a picture that goes up on my website, and the first place winner gets to draw from a choice of ten envelopes and can win up to $100 cash.”
The event had a large amount of interest from students present in the student center, with seven lined up 10 minutes before the event started. Darren Jurilli and Thomas Lopez, students at Daytona State, were excited about participating, and shared their thoughts on the event.
“We saw the table and heard the music and had to come check it out. I’m just hoping for rookie of the year with this one, let’s go 24!” Jurilli said.
“It’s gonna be a lot of fun, I picked mine by looking for the ones trying to climb out of the bowl from the start. They’ve got the energy.” Lopez said.
Six heats were raced, and the winners of those six heats were taken aside to allow for them to rest. This also allowed anyone else who might be interested to join in the races during the halfway mark. With all the hermit crabs locked in at this point, the races continued, garnering six more winners.
The final heat was full of excitement and after a slow buildup, they were off! An incredibly close race, but three wound up standing victorious. In third, Maddy Risotoe with her crab Shrek; in second, Charlie Reyes with his crab Flash; and in first place, Mallory Miller with her crab Bigfoot. The champions had positive things to say about the races.
“I came in and heard the energy and had to see what was going on. I joined in at the halfway point, and wound up picking up a win. It was a lot of fun, a lot of my friends were here, and since I finished up my classes beforehand it was a pretty nice way to end the day.” Reyes said.
“I actually heard about this event from Lori, and she asked me to attend and help out. I wound up entering a crab and taking first place! It was a lot of fun, it was great to see everyone so excited and competitive over hermit crabs. I can’t wait for next year.” Miller said.
The crab races are held once per semester, and are looking to expand to more campuses next semester according to Lori Lemoine.
“This semester we’re having them here at the Daytona Campus, and at the Deland campus next week. In the spring we’ll have them at the same places, but we’re going to be adding the Flagler and Deltona campuses. We don’t have the dates set yet, but they will appear on the co-curricular activities schedule posted around campus and on the Intramural’s schedule posted online.” Lemoine said.
The crab races were held on the Daytona and Deland Campuses. More information on the crab races and winner photos can be found at www.crabrace.com.