Archive: Around Town

"5-4-3-2-1- Go!!!"

Lansing Pack 48 Cub Scouts (boys from 1st through 5th grades) held their annual Pinewood Derby at the RC Buckley elementary school cafeteria last Saturday.  Twenty eight excited boys arrived with the cars they had made from a kit containing a wood block, four wheels and four nails (for axles).  The boys designed, shaped and decorated their cars at home or during ‘pit day’ held at the Middle School wood shop on January 9th.

At 10 am on Derby day, the Cubs started to arrive with their cars to have them weighed, checked for appropriate dimensions and lubricated with graphite.  There were some early races for siblings, friends and family members before the Tiger Cubs (boys in first grade) helped to open the Derby with some slides of how the Cub Scout Pinewood Derbies was started, back in 1953.  



“Let the races begin” announced the volunteer emcee Toby Green, a Scout from Lansing Troop 48.  Each car was placed very carefully in the start gate.  After a countdown by everyone, a start button was pressed by one of the boys at the finish line.  The cars were released simultaneously and the electronic timing equipment recorded the results and announced the winners.  Each race lasted for around three and half seconds!  

The Cub Scout races started with the first-year Webelos (boys in fourth grade).  There was tension in the air as the announcements were made by Green:

“Third place Stephen Geise, second place Scott Coonrod and the winner of the Webelos 1 den is….Dominick Ronsvalle”!  

The bronze medal was awarded to Walter Read, silver to Jack Negley and the winner of the Webelos 2 den was Harrison Brown, who recorded the fastest time of the day so far.  His car finished its lane 1 race in 3.37815 seconds.  The boys were invited to return next year as Scouts to help transport the cars from the finish line back to the start.

The Tiger Cubs were the next boys to race.  It was their first experience of the Pinewood Derby and they eagerly anticipated the heat in which they were able to press the start button to begin the race!  The average speed of winner Elijah Littlejohn was only three hundreths of a second faster than second place Alex Baur.  In third place was Jared Hall.

The Wolf Cub races (second grade boys) were won by Aaron Freemantle, with Wyatt Wang-Slate in second and Nathaniel Ronsvalle in third


The Bear den (boys in third grade) had nine participants so plenty of races to watch.   The countdown to each race was getting louder, the excitement mounting.  The boys were keen to learn the winners.  In third was Hunter Kozlowski, second was Nicholas Hwang and in the top spot was Kegyn Golden, who recorded the fastest race of the day during his lane 2 race at 3.3584 seconds.

After establishing the den winners, there was a break in the racing.  The Cub Scouts were given the chance to vote for their favorite car in each den.  Whilst the boys were judging, many spectators took advantage of the tasty snacks and lunch foods provided by Kids in Action Now, facilitated by Bonnie Blair and Debbie Geise.  The proceeds from the sales went to ‘Nothing But Nets’, a charity supported by the Boy Scouts of America that sends mosquito nets to protect families in Africa, were enough to send ten mosquito nets.

The votes were counted to find the 'best looking' car as voted by the boys.  The Tiger den winner was Jared Hall with his red race car and the Wolf winner was the Scooby Doo car make by Nathaniel Ronsvalle.  There was another win for Kegyn with his Batman car and the Webelos 1 winner was Dominic Loga with his “Blue dragon” car.  Elijah Worthington was the winner for the Webelos 2 den with his Star Wars car.


The last set of races was the Pack finals, with the fastest racer from each den competing to find the Pack winner.  Again, each car raced in all five lanes of the Pinewood Derby track.  The races were close, but at the finish of the racing, the winner of the 2016 Pack 48 Pinewood Derby was Kegyn, with Elijah Littlejohn in second and Aaron in third.

The three fastest cars in each den may race against Cub Scouts from other packs in Tompkins and Cortland Counties in a District Pinewood Derby to be held on 27th February at TST BOCES.

v12i4