DC Challenge 2018!

Forget the World Cup!  Forget the U.S. Open!  Forget the College World Series!  This week we experienced something even more amazing – it’s the DC Challenge!

What is the DC Challenge, you ask?  Well, I’m glad you asked!  DC Challenge is the DOUBLECREEK Challenge.  I know you’ve never seen anything like it and neither have we, because it’s different every year.

Think “The Amazing Race” combined with parts of “Minute-to-Win-It” and “Fear Factor,” and you have the DC Challenge.  Lots of skills are incorporated into this incredible event.  You have scooterboard races and the WARP wall.  What’s a WARP wall?  It’s a warped wall, Silly!  Then they do something with bean bags followed by the always thrilling “Fill the Bucket with Water” in a way that takes too long to explain.  Next, campers throw hula hoops over at a tree (or the world’s largest tree stump).

Now it gets really strange, I mean interesting!  At the pool, one camper swims and another chugs a Gatorade!  Then it is on to gun safety where campers shoot at spoons.  This is followed by a trip to horseback riding to tie a lead rope to the gate (who thought of that one?).  But wait!  There’s more!  Campers have a three-legged race at the Gaga Ball Pit and then throw balls into the trash!

Okay, try to visualize this next one!  One camper is on one side of a seven foot wall and another camper is on the other side.  One camper throws an apple over the wall while the other tries to catch it with a 5-gallon bucket.  Raise your hand if you’ve done that one.  Next up is the Shuffleboard Court where campers try to knock down bowling pins with a shuffleboard puck.  Do they do that on cruise ships?

When the team gets to Low Ropes, they have to pass through the ropes without touching a rope.  (I’m about thirty years and fifty pounds from being able to do that one!)  The team then has to balance on a log, then sprint to Archery where they shoot at a target. (This is the only standard activity in the whole course).

Then on to the Mud Pit where as many campers as possible must negotiate the Mud Slip-N-Slide in a minute.  They then have to find Starbursts in the Kickball Field. (I’m not sure if they eat them or not). 

Sprinting through the mister/sprinkler is the last part of the challenge.  When the final camper goes through the mister, time stops.  Oh, did I tell you that all this is against the clock?  The lowest time wins.

You have to see it to believe it.  I saw it and I still don’t believe it.  But, I really appreciate it.  It was wild and crazy and a whole lot of fun!  The DC Challenge incorporates basic skills and ones you don’t use every day.  When the groups finish the course, there is lots of laughter and “high-fives,” which is the whole reason behind the DOUBLECREEK CHALLENGE!

 -- Joe Ray