justplainbil

Just Plain Bill

The Great Snail Race

I was surprised to see an item entitled “The World Snail Racing Championship Happened, And We Have A Winner”, in the Huff Post Green, July 28, 2013. This brought back many fond memories of The Great Snail Race, sponsored annually by my students from three schools where I taught in the 70s and early 80s.

The inspiration first came from my search for something different to highlight our science unit on mollusks. The idea eventually expanded to include letter writing, math, social studies, poetry and art – all centered on this “hands-on” activity.

One Easter vacation, my principal Jim Carr called and asked if one of my students had invited then California Governor Ronald Reagan to be a judge at our Great Snail Race. After hearing “yes”, he said, “well, he’s coming.” Jenna Holt, my third grade student who had been voted Miss Snail of 1974, had written to Governor Reagan and had indeed invited him to judge our Great Snail Race.

What had started as an activity for my fifth grade class grew into school-wide participation for this fun and educational event. My students prepared individual snail tracks and supervised the individual classroom heats, selecting the finalists who would race in the grand finals and be judged by our invited guests.  A race usually lasted no more than three minutes and consisted of each student’s snail crawling off a circular track. The snail was placed (gently) in the center of his or her individual track and awaited the command “go.” The first snail to crawl off the 8” circular track following that command was declared the winner.

Governor Reagan was joined by 13 other invited judges and all watched as “Tony” (coached by first grader Lela Brosler) sped off his track in the time of one minute, 43 seconds. Tony received the Governor’s prestigious and perpetual trophy of a jar filled with Jelly Belly jelly beans, along with the red, white and blue ribbons that were also presented to the runners-up.

The visit by the governor came at the time he was beginning his run for the presidential nomination. As you can imagine, his appearance brought the press, radio interviews from across the country, many other elected officials (for photo ops…many of whom had declined their invitation until they heard the governor was attending), and more than 600 parents and friends who witnessed The Great Snail Race.

The race continued for 11 years in various schools where I worked until it was finally retired in 1982. The Great Snail Race left many priceless memories for all involved.