It was a beautiful weekend for racing outhouses.
The rain held off Saturday as Mother Nature took the weekend off so the 14th Annual Outhouse Races at the Sapphire Valley Ski Resort could run free of foul rain and yes, snow.
The team captained by Lance Black from Mountain Brook, Alabama, piloting the Poop Coop, raced to victory while a crowd of more than two thousand spectators looked on.
“This outhouse was built by Chris Alexander and Lance Black,” said Sapphire Resort Marketing Director, Linda Foxworth. “The pushers were Luke Black and Jack Alexander, and the sitter was one big chicken – Lance Black.”
Black wore a chicken suit while driving the Poop Coop to Victory Lane.
Outhouse Outcasts pushed by Johnny McNitt and Trace Baker, and driven by Meredith Erskine out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, took second place.
The two top finishers in this year’s Outhouse Race were out-of-towners, Foxworth said.
“Can you believe it? Next year we MUST do better!” she said.
Other awards handed out as chosen by the public and Sapphire Resort staff were:
• Most Creative – the “Stink ‘n House representing Marie Bell of Sapphire.
• Best Constructed – Power Rangers representing the PMA Group from Brevard.
• People’s Choice – The Sound of Movement, The Von Crapps, representing Drew English and Bright Mountain Community from Glenville.
• Most Humorous – Lonesome on the Range, representing Lonesome Valley.
Proceeds from this year’s Outhouse Races benefited Fishes and Loaves food pantry.
Foxworth said the Outhouse Races is an event that must be seen firsthand in order to truly appreciate its spectacle.
“You just have to be here,” she said. “It is the funniest thing I have seen and these people are so serious. We had 16 outhouses and 13 of them were built and brought here. I am talking really serious.”