Students don’t typically swim in NIU’s East Lagoon. However, participants of the Recycled Boat Race got their fair share of time submerged in the geese ridden waters.

The Campus Activities Board hosted the event Tuesday as part of NIU’s Homecoming Week. Participants, who had to register beforehand, were required to build boats entirely constructed out of recycled materials. They then had to ride in their boat across the East Lagoon to the cheering onlookers waiting at the finish line.

The winner of the race was whoever reached the finish line in the least amount of time, or in the event no boat reached the other bank, whichever boat made it the farthest. 

The winner would receive a $600 prize, with a secondary $300 prize given to the team with the most creative boat. The prize money comes from the Student Government Association. Student organizations would receive the prize in student funding while independent groups would receive a check or other form of payment.

While sinking was an expectation, student safety was not a concern. All participants in the boats were required to wear life jackets, and since the East Lagoon is not very deep participants could stand once sunk.

TEAM 1

The first boat to enter the water belonged to junior art major Imala Bettis and junior psychology major Hailee Badger. Their boat was composed of various plastic bottles duct taped to part of a wooden dresser to create a flat surface. 

“The bottles were the first thing I thought of, and then I just ran with it. And then I found a dresser outside and I just used it for stability, I guess,” Bettis said.

The team initially launched their boat around 5 p.m., a few feet to the right of the dock at the lagoon. Before the launch, Badger expressed her anticipation of setting sail.

“I was way too excited, but I’m scared of the green mucky water,” Badger said.

Her fear was unfortunately actualized soon after launch. Stuck in too shallow water, the team paddled to no avail, partially submerged, until the boat tipped and they fell off around six feet from the dock.

Despite being a race, the mood of the event was not one of competition but of camaraderie. Team 1 was allowed to relaunch their boat from the deeper waters at the end of the dock, where all following teams would launch as well.

They struggled to make initial forward motion, but once they made it around two feet from the dock they tipped again, remaining in the water on their second attempt for 43 seconds.

TEAM 2

The second team competing was the Justice and Sustainability Association (JASA) student organization. Junior environmental studies major President Hallela Wagner, senior business administration major Outreach Coordinator Trevor White, junior mechanical engineering major member Ryan Malloy and third-year industrial engineering student Chair for Equity and Justice Alex Hernandez all boarded their boat for the competition.

“We’re an organization on campus dedicated to advancing initiatives in environmental justice and sustainability,” Wagner said. “We also have a huge focus on community building on campus and forming a campus culture that is welcoming and also encouraging people to act sustainably.”

JASA’s boat was shaped like a goose, equipped with a cardboard neck, recycled basketball head – all covered in black and white duct tape – paper beak and googly eyes. The boat was constructed of four cardboard boxes as the body with pontoon flotation devices on the bottom.

JASA also struggled to make way with paddling initially, but once they gained momentum they moved quickly, tipping from side to side. The team made it to their awaiting fans with cardboard signs on the other side of the bank in 2 minutes and 36 seconds. Upon exiting the boat, Wagner fell into the water, fully submerged.

Even if participants didn’t fall into the water, all boats slowly took on liquid as they travelled and tipped.

“It was terrifying. It felt like we were, like, sinking in slow motion,” Malloy said. “But yeah, we made it.”

TEAM 3

Team 3’s boat, named Katz after Aaron and Noah Katz who manned the vessel, was constructed of cardboard covered in duct tape and supported by PVC pipes. On the bottom, plastic buckets were duct taped on for flotation.

The boat also featured a cardboard cat face on the front and a spool shaped cardboard and duct tape propeller on the back.

The boat continuously tipped to the right while the team paddled fruitlessly. Eventually, they asked for a push from a member of CAB which gave them the momentum to travel around a third of the way across the lagoon before tipping over.

Katz’s total time in the water was 4 minutes and 5 seconds.

TEAM 4 

An independent group, the Savannah Sailor’s boat was canoe-shaped, composed of cardboard covered in a sheet of plastic with a paper mache lion’s head at the mast. The last team to race had the quickest start. They paddled aggressively to avoid tipping and reached around a third of the way to the finish line before toppling over. 

CAB allowed them a second attempt, and they emptied the water from their boat to start again. They moved slower the second time, but lost stability due to the wet cardboard and tipped over again, slightly further from the mark they reached before.

Team 3 finished with a time of 47 seconds.

RESULTS

As the only team to reach the finish line, JASA took home the first place prize. The prize for most creative boat went to Katz.

The Recycled Boat Race used to be a Homecoming tradition with the last recorded race in 2017. CAB hopes to reignite this tradition and host the event for the foreseeable future.

“We hope to keep this going for NIU tradition to come,” CAB President Amarion Weathersby said. “It was a part of Homecoming Week a few years ago, and this is our first year bringing it back. So we’re trying to make some of those traditions last on NIU campus. You know, get some homecoming spirit.”