Manila Gorillas win it again… two-time Great Race Slate Creek Relay champions
The Manila Gorillas are two-time Great Race champions.
by James Jordan, Sumner Newscow — The Manila Gorillas got off to a good start and never looked back in winning the Great Race in Wellington Saturday. It is the second consecutive year the team has won this race. This year the Gorillas won with a time of 45 minutes, and 35 seconds. They led after eight of the 13 events that included several foot races, canoes, horses, motorcycles, and bicycles.
Second place went to Security State Bank Big Bucks, who completed the course in 46 minutes, 55 seconds. Impact Bank Dashing Dukes was third at 49:26.
The crowd on U.S. 160 watching the Great Race.
The Gorillas won last year’s event with a time of 45:15. There was no race in 2020 because of Covid. The Gorillas were second and third the previous two years.
The weather turned cool and there had been some rain, but that didn’t seem to bother any of the participants.
The placings of each leg of the Great Race. (Click to enlarge)
The Manila Gorillas finished first after the first leg, a 360-yard sprint. They fell to third in the 3/4 mile run and were in second place for the next two events. In the fifth leg, they got back into first place and fell to third again in the horse race. They got back to second in the bicycle race and got back into the lead in the first one-mile run. They led each leg of the next six events, winning by a margin of just over a minute.
Impact Bank Dashing Dukes finishes third.
The SSB Big Bucks finish second.
Security State Bank was in fourth place after the first leg but was in first or second on each leg from that point. Security State bank won the event in 2017 and has been in the top three for the last six races.
The Dashing Dukes fell to sixth place after three events and gradually made up the distance. They got into third place in the canoe race and held that spot for the final four events.
Blake Rausch is first across the finish line for the Manila Gorillas.
The fourth-place team, Muddy Water, was in seventh place after the first event, and managed to get into second place in the horse race, but fell to fourth in the canoe race.
The Dore Enchies were entered but did not compete and have been one of the better teams in the history of the Great Race. The Enchies have won the event 10 times since 2003, and this would be only the second time they were not in the top three.
For all the pictures by James Jordan and Tracy McCue click here.
