CAMDEN—It’s the age old question: is it better to go with an over-the-top decorated cardboard sled or a stripped down flat racer with zero wind resistance?

With ideal slick conditions on the specially made snow track at the Camden Snow Bowl on Sunday, March 6, 40 teams showed up to show their mettle.

The flat, toboggan-like sleds seemed to whip down the hill the fastest, but it was the elaborate, box-shaped cardboard racers that provided the most entertainment, with many being ejected on the ride down and the crowd encouraging the participants to get back on the horse, so to speak. As with the Star Wars Sliders, the kids wiped out and the crowd cheered them to keep on going. “May the Force Be With You!” some guy yelled.

A lot of debris was left on the snow track from the wipe outs, but some cardboard racers came with their own surprises.  As a racer in the shape of an ice cream truck spun its way down, the kids threw ice cream sandwiches out for the crowd.

We asked the winners for the last two years in a row, the Crazy Cruz’n Cuz’ns– Eban Davis, 6,  Cade Davis, 8, Abraham Rhode Jr. 7, and Kailey-Anne Rhode, 9 what their secret was. “Determination,” said Kayleigh-Anne.

One of the more elaborate racers was a giant tugboat called Twin Tug built by Thomas Leeper, Karissa Beverage, and their children, Emma Leeper, 4, and Zoe Leeper, 4.  Putting safety first, it came equipped with its own PFDs. “It took two late nights to make,” said Leeper, “even though we had no idea what we were doing. But hey, we made it down, we’re all good.”

Team Super was a space ship piloted by two NASA engineers, Ethan Lantz, 5 Rockport, Kara Croce, 6.  “It took just two days to make the rocket ship,” said Ethan. Then correcting himself, he said, “No, it took some of night and a little some of the day. We put fake buttons on our suits.”

“I think the kids did an excellent job,” said Ethan’s father Benjamin Lantz. “We paid them well,” he joked.

Wyatt Heal, 8, drove a cool snowmobile called W.J.H Racing down the hill with mailing tubes for the sled, independent steering and even a flashlight built into the steering column. “It took about four weeks to make,” said his father Toby. Wyatt had a bit of a hard time navigating it all the way down the hill, falling off a few times and gleefully abandoning it before the finish line, but he rode it like a champ. “ I just wanted to do some tricks,” he said.

The Camden Snow Bowl team rode an A-Frame replica of The Snow Bowl down, spinning nicely all the way down. “I’m not sure we actually crossed the finish line” joked Jonathan Laurence. (Our video provies otherwise.)

The Thin Mints, both girl scouts from Troop 23 were Olive Walker, 7 and Haley Orne, 7. Olive was the pilot. Haley was the Thin Mint. Though they took a tumble (that’s the way the cookie crumbles) they hopped right back in their Girl Scout cookie Box and finished the run. Asked if they’d do it again, the answer was slightly hesitant. “Maybe.”

Here are the results:

Fastest:

1^st – Magic Cardboard Ride – Maeve Littlefield (age 10) and Dan Littlefield (age 48) from Belfast with a time of 7.53.

2^nd – Ice Train – Devon Smith (age 12) and Mike Smith (age 50) from Appleton with a time of 7.67

3^rd – Lean Mean Duct Tape Machine – Rieder James (age 25) from Rockport with a time of 7.87.

Most in a Box:  5 – The Insane Bolts – Jasper Hackett (age 8) from Rockport, Avery Hackett (age 10) Rockport, Keagan Urey (age 5) Rockport, Finn Urey (age 11) Rockport and Charlie Moss (age 11) Camden.

Most Creative  box was the Lee family – Davis, Oliver, Kate and Henrietta from Newburyport Massachusetts and Jonathan Laurence from Camden; that built a replica of the Camden Snow Bowl A-frame lodge complete with the ship’s wheel hanging light. 

Best Costume – Star Wars Sliders – Lily Stowe (age 10) Rockland, Hannah Stowe (age 6) Rockland, Ronin Allyn (age 7) Rockland and Claire Caveney (age 11) Rockland. 

 Prizes were provided by Uncle Willy’s Candy Shoppe  in Camden, Flat Bread Pizza in Rockport and the Camden Snow Bowl.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com