The Odd Is on Their Side : Wackiness Scores Points in Annual Kinetic Sculpture Race

Trailblazer the snail just couldn’t swim.

Against all hopes, its tail just dipped into the water and the poor thing started to sink, back end first. That’s how 11-year-old Josh Meagher and his back-row buddies got all wet.

“My back tire flew up, and the front tire flew down,” and soaked him past his knees, Josh explained.

This snail is really an elongated boat on wheels, and obviously not a really good one. Actually it’s a bike. Or make that 24 bikes, stitched together three by three, to form a line of peddling Newbury Park kids who competed over the weekend in the second annual Kinetic Sculpture Race--an over-land, over-sea, over-mud cavalcade of more than a dozen Frankenstein-like vehicular artworks.

There was Lick Me, the ice cream-themed tricycle, which glided on a couple of huge doughnut wheels painted in peppermint colors. Lampoon, a lantern-like boat on wheels, sported a golden Arabian Nights sheen. There was a mobile wedge of faux cheese, a UFO, and the land shark.

“People really want to be noticed,” said Hobart Brown, who founded such kinetic sculpture races about 30 years ago in Humboldt County, and was in Ventura for the weekend festivities. “This is the recognition we give to your neighbor. We discover the genius in them.”

And as such, there are awards, but no one seems to mind much who gets what. Cheating is encouraged. (Josh’s Newbury Park church group didn’t perform the water portion of the trip). Bribing the judge with goodies was especially encouraged.

Participants were challenged to build people-powered vehicles--also known as sculptures--with both aesthetic and practical value, and then take them to Ventura’s streets and sea and beaches to determine whether they actually worked.

The race, one of a handful around the world, started late Saturday morning and continued Sunday, floating on Ventura Harbor, sloshing through a nearby mud pit and finishing at the California Street Promenade.

Everyone took home an award for participating in the two-day challenge, including one entry that had the fastest time.

“You look for costumes, spirit, energy, engineering,” said head judge Karen Taggart of Santa Paula, who admitted that a bribe of candy or a colorful button could earn a contestant extra points. “You’ve got engineers and artists and studs”--the athletes, who actually pedal the creations.

Money raised from entry fees helps support Turning Point, a nonprofit organization that provides mental health treatment to those in need in Ventura County.

But the focus on Sunday was fun.

“It’s the most bizarre thing,” said Suz Montgomery, wearing a tiara and wiggly antennae, who helped organize the event. “People come out dressed up. Kids can watch adults having fun.”

And Oak Park’s Lowell Brittain was having fun, but after bogging down in the sand last year, he was determined that his Coastal Cone-sponsored trike would also make a competitive showing. This year, Lick Me had hydraulic brakes and foam wheel-padding to make crossing the beach easier.

“We haven’t cheated yet,” Brittain said. “We’re determined that a local team is going to get there first.”

Several of the teams came from out of state, including the glossy gold lamp that charged through the mud with relative, if bumpy, ease.

This was the fourth race of the year on the West Coast for Hal Lee, a mechanical engineer from Bainbridge Island, Wash., who said he’s virtually a kinetic sculpture pro--without the money.

“You do work hard for this,” he said, moments after slogging through the mud portion of the stop-and-go race. “But, it’s fun.”

And after their struggle through the sea, the Trailblazer team proved that a snail is much more adept in mud than it is in water--and got a gigantic cheer from the crowd.

“That was easy,” said L.J. Surla, 11. “We went fast.”

“We went fast on the water, too,” said Jeremy Zeller, 12. “For all of 20 feet.”