The North Idaho College Recreational Sports department hosted the first annual Cardinal Scramble Aug. 30 at the NIC beach, which included a barbeque after the competition, music from The Long Ear and prizes.
“I think it’s a really fun way for students to learn their way around campus and meet new people the first week of school,” Rec. Sports coordinator Jessica Johanson said.
Ten teams of three or four participants competed in four super challenges and rummaged for information around the NIC campus in a scavenger hunt. Team Sergeant Pepper won the event after defeating Team Warbirds in a two-person paddle-off on Lake Coeur d’Alene.
The two teams tied after the original scores were tallied, so two participants from Sergeant Pepper and Warbirds settled the tie by paddling together on a paddleboard to a sailboat about 40 yards from the beach and then returning back to shore.
“We had good communication,” Justin Ewing, 20, general studies, Blanchard, Idaho, from Sergeant Pepper said. “Before we went out there I told him I’d grab the board and he should grab the oar. I thought there was going to be two oars so I thought we were going to start at the same time. He tried kicking and that worked really well.”
The Warbirds paddled hard but came up on the short end of the stick that day.
“We gave it our all out there,” Dave Marshall, 26, associates of applied science, Lewiston, Idaho, from Warbirds said. “We caught them at the sailboat and then I just tired out.”
Sergeant Pepper earned NIC Rec. Sports champions T-shirts and a trophy that will be displayed in the Edminster Student Union Building and Warbirds won T-shirts and a free dinner of their choosing for their second place finish.
“We won first in the Res. Hall and second out here which is OK with me,” Marshall said. “We had a fun time. That’s what it’s about, having fun.”
Each team, which had to stay together throughout the competition, received a campus map at the beginning of the competition showing the whereabouts of the super challenges, information on the 19 scavenger hunt spots and the bonus challenge.
The games began around 3:30 p.m. with teams scattering to the four super challenges and scavenger hunt locations. The teams had to report back to the NIC beach by 5:30.
One of the super challenges, Brain Buster, took place at the Outdoor Center.
Each team had to place four rowing oars over nine duct-tape x’s on the floor so that each “x” was isolated. Team Easy Does It recorded the best time, completing the task in 40 seconds.
“We just threw some paddles down and it worked out how it was supposed to,” Taite Petersen, 22, business administration, Coeur d’Alene, from Easy Does It said.
Warbirds won the “Splat” super challenge behind Residence Hall with a time of 51 seconds.
Four cones were spread out and a member of each team tossed a water balloon from one start cone to their teammate standing near the second cone in line. That person had to receive it without the balloon breaking and throw it back to the person at the first cone.
The first person then had to throw the balloon to the person standing near the third cone, which was farther away, and then receive it again successfully, and so on.
The task was completed when the first person successfully threw and received the balloon from teammates located at the other three cones.
“We knew it was going to take a few tries,” Cirdan Nader, 19, Psychology, Louisville, Ky., from Warbirds said. “The first three tries it really hit us that the throw has to be perfect, right to us.”
Warbirds also had the fastest time in the “Pop-a-squat” super challenge behind the Student Union Building.
Teams pulled a rope, which was a part of a pulley system, to maneuver a Rec. Sports climber through the air from one tree to a tire hanging from another tree. Once the climber reached the tire he tossed a tennis ball through it.
The teams then lowered him, using the rope, on to a toilet.
Sergeant Pepper placed first in the “Paddle Faster” event on the NIC beach.
A member from each team paddled with one oar on a paddleboard, with the option of sitting or standing, around one of two buoys and then returned back to the beach. Teams had to complete four laps around the buoys using one person on the team or dividing the laps among the other team members.
