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 Landtubber Race Logo (2nd Annual Street bathtub race in Nanaimo) 
Land Tubber Race street scene  The Pirate Team |
The "Great" International World Championship Bathtub Race
Bathtub Weekend in Nanaimo, B.C., Canada:
The Bathtub Capital of the World Carye Bye
Part V: The 2nd Annual Land Tubber's Race I left the LNBS, happy with my new bathtub souvenirs and headed back into the street festival below. When planning my trip to Nanaimo I was expecting to see one bathtub race..but there are in fact two as of last year! The Land Tubber race is the wacky cousin twice removed of the International Bathtub race. The race happens in one block of the downtown main street as part of the "Bathtubs and Ballyhoo" festival. As I arrived I could see the participates gathering: Teams of Pirates, Mad Scientists, and the shower-capped crew wearing various floaty toys were particularly noticeable. It was hard to make out how they would do a "race" in one block. So I waited along with the crowd in anticipation. Soon the first race began with two teams. The tubs in this race are on wheels with two long handles extending on either side. Each team is made up of 5 people (4 to push the tub, and one to sit in the tub). The person in the tub holds a babytub, filled to the rim with water, with a "baby" made out of a balloon floating in it. Basically the object of the race is to get through the entire race without losing the baby. In the first round the team must push their tub to the water balloon station. To make it more difficult, one side of the team has a long wooden board strapped to their feet. At the water balloon station, they fill a pair of pantyhose with waterballoons that the 5th person holding the "baby" must put on and then get back in the tub. The amount of waterballoons at the end of the race equal points. The second station is a Canadian trivia question that the team must answer correctly. And then finally at the end, the team must empty the baby tub's water into a bucket while keeping the "baby" in the tub. And that's it! I think. I stayed around for the second round of teams. But left after that since each round ended up being quite lengthy, and there were tons of teams to still go. Also I realized that the Bathtub Pet Parade I was so eager to see, was well underway across town at the park by the harbor. I wanted to see for myself if these pets were really in bathtubs!
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