Students hop around town in Jacked Up Rabbit Race

Students+Kaitlin+Foster%2C+Tyler+Storms%2C+Kent+Kraft%2C+Kody+McCollum+and+Danielle+McCollum+competed+in+the+scavenger+hunt+from+last+year%E2%80%99s+race.+-+Collegian+Photo+by+Stephen+Brua%0A

Students Kaitlin Foster, Tyler Storms, Kent Kraft, Kody McCollum and Danielle McCollum competed in the scavenger hunt from last year’s race. – Collegian Photo by Stephen Brua

mrwhite

No, they’re not hunting jackrabbits. They’re Jackrabbits hunting for scavenger items.

Reporter

Students’ endurance will be put to the test during the third annual Jacked Up Rabbit Race starting 7 p.m. April 8.

The 24-hour race features 30 six-member teams will race to retrieve and take pictures of items on two lists, along with participating in physically and mentally exhausting challenges.

The first-place team will get round-trip airfare vouchers, the second-place team will get $100 gift cards and the third-place team will get $50 gift cards.

“[The race] is similar to the Amazing Race, but SDSU-style,” said Bethany Fischer, Residence Hall Association publicist. “It is action-packed, and people love it.”

Registration for the race started March 25 at 11:59 p.m.

Fischer said the events for the race are being kept quiet.

“We like to keep things top secret, but there will be a lot of things to find and a lot of crazy things to do,” she said.

However, Fischer was able to talk about last year’s race.

“Pirate Duck was a big thing last year,” she said.

Pirate Duck was a stuffed animal that was hidden throughout campus. Teams were texted with a clue as to where Pirate Duck was.

Adam Schorzmann, a senior history education major and a volunteer for last year’s race, said the Pirate Duck was one of his favorite parts.

“One team found the duck like six or 10 times,” Schorzmann said. “I think they were following us [when we were hiding it].”

As a volunteer, Schorzmann said he enjoyed laughing at participants.

“Everyone was crabby,” he said. “Some people had four energy drinks ready to go at the beginning of the race and were crashing halfway through.”

Schorzmann said finding a creative challenge everyone can be involved in is “probably the toughest part of putting on the race.”

Fischer said the race committee and RHA have been planning for months.

“When the race gets close, it shows you what all the hard work was for,” she said.

Campus-wide unity is the goal, Fisher said.

“It’s a time where the entire campus can come together,” she said. “It is something that is really special to SDSU.  You can’t do it anywhere else.”

Drew Heemstra, a freshman general studies major, will participate in the race for different reasons.

“All the crazy stuff you have to find and bring back sounded like a lot of fun,” he said. “Maybe we can win and go on a trip somewhere.”

Heemstra said he thinks the worst part will be taking all the pictures.

“Last year, they had to take pictures of random state license plates,” he said. “That is a lot of searching.”

The Jacked Up Rabbit program won the Program of the Year award at the Midwest Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls Conference in November 2010, one of the seven regionals in the nation. The race committee will present at the national conference in May at Western Illinois University to try and win nationals.