Cameron Cup kicks off in the cold

During the afternoon after the first snow of the year (well, okay, flurries- but it still counts), a small group of students met on Battell Beach for the opening event of the Cameron Cup.

Huddled closely around the hot apple cider and hot chocolate dispensers, students sipped on warm beverages as they listened to Cameron Cup Commissioner Ashton Coughlin ’11 explain the rules.

After splitting into teams by commons (each commons had a showing except Brainerd, who apparently decided that it was too cold to venture out to the event), the competition began.
The challenge was a sort of obstacle course, beginning with a Gallon Challenge. Teams had to drink an entire gallon of whole milk before they could advance to the next leg of the race. Obviously, this was easier for larger teams, like Cook, than it was for teams like Ross, who had only three members.

Still, each team persevered.

Next, the teams ran through Battell 3-legged race style. After making a loop, they ran outside to answer a riddle, and then dashed off to do Dizzy Bat, which required each team member to spin around five times with his or her head on a whiffle ball bat.

Teams then sprinted across Battell Beach to pick up cans that had been strewn on the No Mow Zone then, from there, they ran to Pearsons. There, one member from each team climbed a tree in search of the animal representing their commons (a pig for Cook, a squirrel for Wonnacott, etc.).

Finally, teams faced their final challenge. Everything came down to a run in which all members of the team save one had to carry that one member of their team around the bottom floor of Forest and then up the hill of Battell Beach to the Award Ceremony Zone.

Tensions were running high.

While teams were inside completing this part of the race, Eliza Wallace ’14, expressed what most observers were feeling about the event.

“It’s really cold, but it’s also really fun.”

The first team to make it up the hill was Cook. Jessie Lussier ’13 and Hilary Crew ’13 summarized how it felt to win:

“It feels normal for us, because we are in Cook, and we are the best commons to begin with.”

Cook was followed closely by Wonnacott. After a delay, Atwater crossed the finish line and then, finally, Ross finished the race.

Because the Cameron Cup is a year-long event, each commons received points for their showing in Friday’s event. First place received 50 points, second received 40, and so on.

Coughlin ’11 explained the goals of the Cameron Cup as “events designed to foster community and competition around campus with a secondary effect of promoting democracy and capitalism and a tertiary effect of creating smiles.”

The Cameron Cup was started in the early 1990s but, after lasting a couple of years, it stopped.

Now, the Cup is regulated by the Inter Commons Council and is affiliated with MCAB. The tri-chairs hope to foster community around campus by having events for the Cup that establish connections between upper- and lower-classmen within each commons.

This year, the competition will consist of five or six major events in which each team can earn up to 50 points at each event.

While tentative, some possible events are an Iron Chef Tournament, a talent show, a campus-wide relay and a trivia night, according to Coughlin.

The chairs are also considering a way to incorporate smaller events into the points-earning scheme, allowing a small number of points to be awarded for things like winning an intramural soccer game.

They are also going to implement a system of demerits for the Cup in which points will be subtracted from commons for things like getting high numbers of citations from Public Safety.

While the schedule for the Cup’s events is still uncertain, students seem to be excited about it.

“I can’t wait to see what other upcoming activities will be,” said Bo Kim ’11.