Posted on behalf of Paola Baca
The 7th annual UBC Vancouver United Way Great Pancake Race (isn’t that a mouthful?) was a day of history in the making.
After much trash-talking and some pancake-flip-height controversy, it came down to a (never-before-seen) “flip-off” between the Batter Based Admissions Team and the dESPerados. Joseph’s vs. Drew’s “flip-off” resulted in a draw (dropped pancakes), and necessitated Sam “The Boss” Saini to “flip-off” against Darran Fernandez. Sam prevailed and the Batter Based Admission Team moved up into the final four rounds of exhausting relay racing.
The team clinched third place thanks to adept (back-handed) flipping by Joseph, incredibly detail-oriented apron hand-offs by Dyan, swift sprinting by Sarah, and the general face-off grit that we have come to expect from Sam.
Third Place is the highest the Batter Based Admissions Team has placed in 5 years of pancake racing. After re-telling this story to my husband, particularly about the constant texts I was receiving from Andrew during the race asking whether or not we had prevailed over the dESPerados, he noted “yes, winning and losing don’t matter, as long as you beat your friends.” Seriously, the dESPerados were the most professional team in the race, even in defeat.
Congratulations to all of our participants. You made all of us very proud!