Over 500 Rubber ducks hit the St. Regis

The world’s fastest duck, the canvasback, can reach speeds up to 72 mph, which is about 70 mph faster than the winning duck at the 2008 Traveler’s Inn Duck Race Saturday, but one St. Regis woman could probably care less.

Lil Affeld’s little plastic duck made the treacherous, two-mile trek down the St. Regis River from the Two Mile Bridge to the Traveler’s Inn Saloon in just under an hour to win the race and add an extra $200 in Affeld’s wallet. The winning duck’s rate of speed of about two mph, was one of the quicker rates in the race’s eight-year history. “That’s really quick,” said Ken Jasper, the race organizer. He said the water was a little higher and swifter this year than in year’s past.

St. Regis’ Zach Park’s duck finished in second place and Kathy Schober’s duck crossed the finish line third. Schober said she had entered the race every year and had never placed. “It feels really great after all these years,” she said. “I never dreamed I would come in first, second, or third.”

With the swift current and danger looming around every corner, it was a feat just for the ducks to finish the race, let alone place. About an hour after Affeld’s duck had crossed the finish line, only 14 other ducks had made it through the twist and turns of the two-mile stretch of river. “The survival rate was quite poor,” Jasper said.

Eric Barclay, Kelly Koke and black Labrador Cabby, had a busy race day. The three were put in charge of seeing that the record-high 525 ducks made it safely down the river. The three followed the crowd of orangish rubber ducks down the river with a drift boat with net in hand ready to rescue all the ducks that got stuck in eddies, on rocks, or branches.

With so many ducks meeting their demise in the swift current, some chose not to risk it and kept their ducks on dry land. There was no way that Jill Pestana was going to tempt fate and put her two ducks in the water. Pestana won the most creative modified duck award for her two ducks she made in homage to two local musicians who have passed away. Pestana said she spent about three months working on the ducks in memory of Corney and Babe Loewen. She said she spared no expense or detail in the two ducks. “There’s probably 10,000 beads between the two of them,” she said. Debbie Maston’s “Witchy Woman” duck won the most creative standard duck.

Jasper said the Traveler’s Inn has been putting on the race for eight years. He said the 525 ducks entered in the race was the most ever, beating last year’s record of 478. Nearly 100 people lined the bridge to watch Affeld’s duck cross the finish line.