We have a tradition at Aikens Lake that goes back for many years. We mimic the Voyageur Games that are held in Winnipeg every February as part of the Festival Du Voyageur. This is a series of 5 events that the Voyageurs (fur-trade era) would compete in for supremacy among men! We always invite our top two finishers to participate in the 64-man tourney in February. The favorites going into the competition based on previous years were Bruno and Pat, who each have a pair of top-two finishes. There is also a female competition, and our chef Elise was game to play. Since none of the other girls were interested in competing this year, she won by default and will represent Aikens this February. However, the competitive side of her was still raring to go so we added her as a wildcard entry... Elise was going to compete against a field of 11 boys! As you'll see, she certainly held her own!

We held the event on the floor of the new workshop. Although not yet complete, this structure was the perfect place for the competition. It gave us some shelter from the rainy evening. The scaffolding even provided bleacher seating for the staff to watch! The first event was the leg wrestling. At first, the competitors were timid when facing Elise. However, as more and more of them ended up on their backs, the boys started fighting back. The their dismay, Elise showed incredible strength as she flipped every single challenger over and won the leg wrestling competition! This included David, the other finalist in the competition. Elise's win made Lorraine especially proud, who for years has won a similar competitions in Winnipeg. She routinely flips the winning contestant from the male division as well - and you could see the pride shine through as Elise emulated her victories! Next up was the Indian wrestling. This competition requires balance and agility, as you attempt to bring your opponent to the ground without lifting your feet. A long and balanced Pat is a tough guy to bring down in this competition, and he proved his worth by winning all his battles and emerging champion of the event.

The third event is often a crowd favorite. The competitors are balanced on a 4x4 beam, and they swing big pillows to knock the other one off. Balance is the biggest part of this event, as some rounds end before either person has swung the pillow! Elise did well in this competition, winning the first few rounds. However, she was defeated by Pat in the semis. Pat ended up facing off against David in the finals. Although similar in height, David does have a much larger frame working for him. This ended up paying dividends as he was able to out-duel Pat on the beam and claim victory in the pillow fight. The final head-to-head event is the tug-of-war. The twist to this event is that the competitors are perched up on a section of log - they are actually about 24" off the ground! This event requires not only strength and balance, but also smarts as many events are won by feeding someone rope.... their momentum takes them right off the back of the log! Tyler, who had been previously matched up against Pat in every event, had a better draw and made the most of it. He battled through to the finals, where he was able to shake Aaron off the log after a very lengthy game of cat-and-mouse with the rope!

The final event is a timed sawing competition. Although we had gone out to purchase a special hand saw, it didn't take long for it to succumb to the stress of heated competition. We restarted with an old saw that we found tucked in the old workshop. It wasn't very sharp, so it made for some hectic sawing to get through the wood! The top four competitors from the 1st heat advanced to the finals. The fastest time after the first heat was just over 20 seconds. Most times varied between 30 seconds and a minute. However, the finals were much more frantic. Marcel and Aaron cut in 18-19 seconds each, good enough for 3rd and 4th in the event. The runner up was Bruno with a time of 16 seconds.... and the surprise winner was Nick! The little buzzsaw was a blur as he chewed threw the wood in just under 15 seconds! Congratulations to Pat and David for accumulating the most points and being crowned "Co-Ultimate Voyageurs 2009"! They will be competing this February in Winnipeg. If one of them bows out of the competition, our first runner up Bruno will be asked to take their place. Here are the final standings:

Pat & David - 400 pts
Bruno - 375 pts
Nick - 350 pts
Aaron - 325 pts
Elise - 300 pts
Tyler - 275 pts
Marcel - 225 pts
Eric & Luke - 200 pts
Griffin - 175 pts
Jesse - 150 pts

Pat and David - The Ultimate Voyageurs