Good cheer, sunshine and fresh snow grace Camden’s 2016 Toboggan Nationals
Purple, Green and Gold won first place in the Best Costume competition.
Camden and Rockport select boards meet up for a throw down. Standing, left to right: Don White, John French and Leonard Lookner, of Camden; Ken McKinley, Bill Chapman and Owen Casas, of Rockport. Kneeling, Steve Pixley, of Camden, and Tracy Murphy, of Rockport. (Photo by Lynda Clancy)
Thunder from Down Under won second prize in the costume competition.
Purple, Green and Gold won first place in the Best Costume competition.
Camden and Rockport select boards meet up for a throw down. Standing, left to right: Don White, John French and Leonard Lookner, of Camden; Ken McKinley, Bill Chapman and Owen Casas, of Rockport. Kneeling, Steve Pixley, of Camden, and Tracy Murphy, of Rockport. (Photo by Lynda Clancy)
Thunder from Down Under won second prize in the costume competition.
CAMDEN — Once it was decided that Hosmer Pond would not withstand the weight of the 26th annual Toboggan Nationals, crews and volunteers at the Camden Snow Bowl made quick work — in deep falling snow and blustery winds — to build a temporary snow chute on the nearby hill, buffeted at the bottom by bales of hay.
The temporary course performed just fine, and though the run times were a little more sedate and not so dramatic as the traditional spillway onto the icy pond, music and laughter filled the air all day Saturday at the foot of Ragged Mountain.
The crowd was smaller this year, thanks to the Friday, Feb. 5, snowstorm that made travel arduous (a number of rooms were cancelled in various hotels and B&Bs), and the schedule was unpredictable; yet, there were the familiar faces and teams, tailgate gatherings, and lots of visitors. One Escalade with California plates — and filled with the fur-hatted — reported that they had come from L.A. with their own film crew.
They also came from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, the hills of Maine, and Louisiana. There were burgers, Fireballs and gumbo, imaginative costumes, and colorful bead necklaces to commemorate the Yankee version of Mardi Gras. And there were dogs, big Great Danes and little Pugs, old ones and puppies.
This year also marked the first-ever throwdown between Camden and Rockport for the fastest time of the town select boards. The 2016 trophy went to the Rockport Select Board, whose four members sped down the chute at an unlikely velocity, enough almost to mark them for the finals — if they had been a bona fide entry to the annual races.
Top winners this year were: (see attached pdf at the bottom of the page for times and more information)
Two Person Team
1st - Birthday Muscles (Pen Bay Healthcare)
2nd - Throbbin Boggins 2
3rd - Valley Kingdom Babes
Three Person Team
1st - Schooner Olad
2nd - F. Krewe Des Jackasses 1
3rd - Throbbin Boggins
Four Person Team
1st - The Dirigo Pups
2nd - Throbbing Boggins
3rd - Curiouser & Curiouser
Fastest Experimental Team
Magic Carpet Ride
FASTEST FEMALE TEAM
41, Valley Kingdom Babes, 8.10
FASTEST STUDENT TEAM
47, Junior Skeeters, 7.79
FASTEST COLLEGE TEAM
118, Clark University, 11.37
OLDEST TEAM
TBD
BEST CRAFTED TOBOGGAN
10, Maxcy Pad
BEST COSTUME
1st 216, Purple, Green and Cold
2nd 65, Thunder From Down Under 1
3rd 275, Curiouser & Curiouser
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Event Date
Address
20 barnestown road
camden, ME
United States
