The Speed Dashers Take Off . . . Slowly

The crowd went wild as the Flame Dashers "dashed" to the finish line last Tuesday.

Last Tuesday, a new event was held at Animal Adventures Inc. (AAI.) known as the Flame Dashers. What's so special about this event and what exactly is it? Well, it is technically a racing event that is held yearly by an organization called Racer's International and one prime location this year is, as mentioned before, AAI., and it was a great turn out. “I've always loved Animal Adventures Inc.,” says Gorge Philips, the British CEO of Racer's International, “and considering its location, I thought it would be a wonderful place to have the event. And as I suspected, it was a great turnout!” Within 30 minutes before the race began, a crowd of thousands of people went directly to the sectioned off area of AAI. where the race was being held. Before the race began, we had the opportunity to have a brief interview with AAI. resident, Sarah Bus Stop Guy to get her opinion on the race. She's quoted for saying, “I think this is going to be a pretty cool . . . event. I just hope it doesn't take so long to begin.” Finally, it was time for the race to begin and the ten-foot race track was set up and gasps were heard from the crowd as the contestants exited the truck and went to the starting line and . . . oh, did I forget to mention that the contestants were tortoises? Yes, you read right: the contestants are tortoises! When I asked Gorge if this event would be any better than other animal racing events such as the Inchworm Inch-a-thon and the Snail Slide-a-thon, his response was, “Oh, much better! Those events are so boring! Three feet in three days, give me a break. And the winner tortoise gets a much bigger prize: blueberries!” Did you know that the audience gets to take part in this race too? They get to vote for which tortoise they think will win the race, and everyone who votes on the tortoise that ends up winning gets to take part in a full-course dessert consisting of the following choices: 100 flavors of ice cream, 1,050 types of candy, 300 different types of cake and about 1,000 other various desserts (the amount of food may seem like a lot, but you also have to remember there were thousands of people in the audience). There were five contestants in this race. There's:

1. Wilbur: #1, the third largest tortoise
2. Destiny: #2, the the fourth largest tortoise
3. Chuck: #3, the largest tortoise
4. Lumber: #4, the second largest tortoise
5. Sophie: #5, the smallest tortoise

With a loud gunshot, the Flame Dashers started the race in a slow and steady pace. The crowd began to cheer and shout loudly. It was a deafening sound! I found this part of the race . . . not boring, but it was pretty interesting. Some of the audience left to get refreshments while the racers “ran” to the halfway mark. By the time the tortoises reached the halfway mark (30 minutes later), they were given a break while some folks gave a halftime concert. Here's a list of the singers and what they sang, respectively:

1. Why I'm So Blue, by Bluebuck and the Bullfrog brothers
2. Barbara Allen, by Bluebuck and Bully the Bullfrog
3. Boola, Boola, by Kay V. Mon and Bullfrog brothers
4. Tomorrow, by Belle Black Bear, Kim Plumbtree & Violet
5. My Country Tis of Thee, led by Gorge Philips
6. God Save the Queen, led by Gorge Philips

After the final song, the second half of the race begun. This second half was technically the tortoises “racing” back to the finish line. Thirty minutes later, it was a tie between Chuck and Lumber and they were desperately to get past the other. They're blockage was causing a traffic jam with the other tortoises . . . except Sophie who raced under the other giants and the race was back on. And the winner is . . . SOPHIE! Her small size helped her reach the finish line and win the reward: a yummy pile of blueberries! The event was a success and Racer's International received lots of donations. “All donations will be going to many organizations,” Gorge explained, “including ones that deal with animal shelters, animal welfare organizations, the National Wildlife Federation, homeless shelters and etc.” Now that the event was over, I took the chance to get an interview with Melody Clark (Sarah Bus Stop Guy's married sister) to get her opinion on the race. Her response was a simple, “Boring.” As for me, I found the race exciting during the end of it when a certain feeling of anticipation was in the air as we waited to see who would win. With the race now over, I think it's safe to say we've added a whole new dimension to the old saying, “Slow and steady wins the race,” because those Flame Dashers were very slow indeed!

Written by: Mr. Smiley

Photographer: Daniel P. Smithwater

Edited by: Christian Ryan

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We here at Smiley’s News, I have been working night and day to get articles ready. I could really use some help! So we are looking for people interested in writing (especially kids and teens). If you are interested, PLEASE(!) send an email to animaladventures@aol.com and save me from working night and day! I’m exhausted!

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