It was a race against time.

Teams of two to six people were able to test their mind and body power while racing around Main Street in Westhampton Beach on Saturday, May 24th completing challenges, solving puzzles, and cracking clues that lead them to their next location.

Five years ago, Lauren Bauer, a sophomore at Westhampton Beach, created this race “after seeing a run similar to this in Philadelphia.” Lauren wanted to give back to her community so when she brought this event back to Westhampton, she decided to donate most of the money that was raised to the Hurricane Educational Foundation, the Westhampton Beach Key Club, and the Westhampton Beach Rotary Interact Club. The money that wasn’t donated back was an incentive for the winning teams.

This year the competition was fierce. Mr. Herr challenged students to beat his team.  Any team who beat Mr. Herr’s would win a bagel breakfast. But that wasn’t the only competition out there. “Lauren and the Trackson 5”, consisting of Lauren Lorefice, Nora Murphy, Kaitlyn Brierton, Grace Gilbakian, and Olivia Horbatiuk, were confident that they would win because of their running abilities. Lauren Lorefice, captain of the team, told their competition, “Be ready and to not to underestimate the six track girls because we are tracktastic.”

This year’s winner, The HKs, was a team filled with not only physically fit students but also mentally fit. This elite team was comprised of myself, Sarah Strebel, Laura Halsey, Frank Leotta, and Henry Seeliger. Before the race Frank told the competition, “We run this town. Good luck.”  Our confidence and poise were only some of the important attributes that helped  us win this race.

After an extremely fun morning of running around Westhampton Beach, Lauren and the Trackson 5 and The HKs were able to defeat Mr. Herr’s team. Laura Halsey said, “This is just the beginning of an eternal winning streak.” Make sure to get involved next year, because the competition will be even more intense as The HKs try to protect our winning title.