On April 28, various racers and local citizens hit the town full force as the first ever Manuever Murray racing event took place.
Similar to the television show “The Amazing Race,” teams competed in several challenges around the city in order to get to the finish line first.
Some of the challenges on Saturday involved teams going through an obstacle where they had to successfully put up a tent then retrieve a key out of a large amount of slime, reminiscent of early Nickelodeon shows.
Several other challenges included teams successfully choking down chicken liver and following it up with a protein shake, and teams going to Elly’s Dance Studio to learn a four step dance and successfully performing it.
Teams participated in several trivia based challenges as well. Topics ranged from local politics and government to music and movies.
After a team had completed all their challenges it became a race to the finish line where the obstacles were observed before announcing a winner.
The winning team, Team Harris, consisting of married couple Patrick and Amber Harris of Murray, finished the race in two hours, eighteen minutes and fourteen seconds. Team Harris finished the race almost twenty minutes faster than the runner up team.
Team Harris completed the race not only in the fastest time, but completed at least 11 of 12 challenges correctly.
Team Harris received the grand prize of $200 plus their registration fee back for winning Manuever Murray.
All funds from registration went toward the Wesley Foundation, a campus ministry at Murray State, to help support mission trips.
The trips assist areas locally and outside of the community. This year’s Maneuver Murray raised $600.
“It’s a great way to bring together our own community in a way that will benefit so many other communities,” said Maddie Mucci, freshman and fundraising chair from Nolensville, Tenn. “Everything we get from Maneuver Murray goes directly to helping our community and others like the communities in Alabama recovering from tornadoes.”
Due to the turnout and success of this year’s Maneuver Murray, the Wesley foundation is planning on making it an annual event.
“We had a lot of positive feedback this year,” Mucci said. “We had so many people saying next year they are going to bring everyone they know to it, so we are definitely going to do it again next year.”
Overall, Maneuver Murray was a success for the Wesley Foundation and the community of Murray.
Any information for Maneuver Murray can be found on the event’s Facebook page or maneuvermurray.com where a complete listing of teams and the order they finished can be found.
