Racing With Purpose: A Grand Champion's Thoughts
I am wrung out, as exhausted as I used to be from playing in the surf from breakfast till dinner. It's a good tired, drained of anxiety and filled with peace. This weekend's race was the most fun I've had with kinetics and the most work we've invested. We spent three years building this world to share with you, fleshing it out with side quests including Red Herrings 1 and 2, New Planet News, a writing contest and Bobby Montana's pop up restaurant.
This race is a bit like our nation's Constitution. It is a living structure, subject to reinvention by current participants to serve new goals. The Ferndale Explorers Club added cross country racing, Barbara Ludwig added Royalty, and Team Sparky uses their time on the course to encourage people to adopt furry friends from the animal shelter.
Following Sparky's example we carried a message this year. We expanded Hobart's mission to "Adults having responsible fun so children want to grow older." It's not enough to merely have fun. Children don't want to grow up in this resource depleted, warming world we are currently leaving for them. It's time we added work to our play to solve the biggest problem our species has ever created. We are now charting a path towards renewed hope so children do want to grow older.
Humpbacks of Notre Dame is both a science fiction dystopia and an arrow pointing to a solution. We desperately need to stop burning fossil fuels traveling to work, school, and vacation. We from the world of kinetics and human powered fun have a responsibility to the rest of the world. We model one way to adapt to a world when our energy use will be sustainable and shared equitably. We show the world, and our children, that the coming decades need not be feared. We work - and play! - towards a future where everyone gets to share in the glory.
Robert van de Walle
Team Pineapple
Grand Champions, Humpbacks of Notre Dame
Examining the last glacier on Earth