Winners! R2AK

On the night of Day 6, the Fish House hosted the 8th edition of the only official finish line awards party possible for a race whose finishers stagger in over a three-week period. But tonight, for a fleeting moment, the top four finishers were in the same room before scattering to the winds in the coming days. Team Malolo was given their first-place winnings in the traditional form—100 crisp Benjamin Franklins nailed to a piece of firewood with an outlandishly large spike. Race Boss said onto the masses, “We shall nail $10,000 to a tree in Alaska and see who gettest it.” And lo, they did race. Racers could not come to the tree, for there was much difficulty, and it was brought to them. And so it is written, and so it shall be. Or something. Less holy and closer to true, someone thought it was funny and it stuck. Eight years in and there’s $80K in US currency floating around with an R2AK-sized hole in Franklin’s nose. In front of Ketchikan, god, and everyone, Team Malolo got the log and the money, Team Brio got the steak knives. Team Hullabaloo and Stranger Danger (the latter landed within minutes of the party starting) both held the impressive, empty honor of being the first teams to not win anything. To commemorate this, they were awarded with a bucket of nothing. An actual empty bucket. R2AK AF. Insult to injury, they had to give the bucket back at the end of the night. It was on loan from the Fish House. Malolo got to keep the firewood. To the victors go the spoils. It was a night of revelry between teams, families of teams finishing soon, local news, local fans, and at least a few members of the R2AK’s Tracker Nation who had flown in specifically to bask in Ketchikan’s finish line glory. And. It. Was. Glorious. Read the full report here:(copy this link and insert into browser) https://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2024/06/19/r2ak-official-finish-line-awards-party/?