West Tennesseans Race “Cardboard Boats” on the Water
UNION CITY, Tenn. — It was a one of a kind competition in Union City Saturday morning at Discovery Park of America, where for the first time, more than a dozen people used cardboard boats to race each other in water. “There’s a red buoy out in the water there behind me and the participants need to paddle their boat out into the water and go around the buoy and come back to shore,” Chris Gunlefinger, Assistant Education Director at Discovery Park of America, said. “We’re gonna be running three heats, timed races and the winners on first and second place from those three heats will move on to the lightening round to compete for first, second and third place,” Gunlefinger said. Competitors say it took a lot of work to put their cardboard boats together. “[We] got about four refrigerator boxes and two or three oven boxes so probably a good 50 or 60 pounds of straight cardboard and then duct tape,” Daniel Keller, 1st place winner. “A lot and a lot of duct tape.” The competition gave awards to participants after the race. Some of the awards included the most creative award and the Titanic award, for the most spectacular sinking.
