PORT ANGELES — Using Play-Doh, paper airplanes and Wiffle Balls, 12 teams bribed their way to raise more than $10,000 for United Way of Clallam County.
The fifth annual United Way Outrageous Olympics garnered $10,381 during the Friday event at the Vern Burton Community Center.
“We had some great teams,” said organizer Karen Brown. “I was amazed, and they made it a lot of fun.”
Last year, the fundraiser raised $5,700, and this year’s target was $8,000, she said.
Games included “sweep,” during which teams used a broom to navigate a Wiffle Ball through a course, a “Top Gun” Nerf target-shooting challenge and “Fly Right,” a paper airplane-throwing contest.
Teams gathered donations to use for “bribes” to use during the contest, to “overlook” mistakes and less than stellar performances during the competition.
Powerful Utility Divas, women of the Clallam County Public Utility District, took the gold medal, followed by silver medalist Do WORK!, from Westport Shipyard, and bronze medalist Code Blue, a combined team of volunteer firefighters from Clallam County Fire District No. 2 and the Port Angeles Fire Department.
Code Blue trailed the gold and silver medal teams, having raised $414 to use for bribes — considerably less than other top performers.
The team was masterful in choosing when to use bribes and was very skilled in the games, Brown said.
“They guessed the ‘say it’ answer in 45 seconds. We didn’t think anyone would do that,” she said.
Those who gathered the most in “bribe money” won a place in the 12th Man Fan Club.
The highest earning team, Do WORK!, bribed judges with the $2,183.28 it raised.
United Way garnered $1,579.11 in bribes from the Powerful Utility Divas, and $1,195 from City Slickers, a team from the city of Port Angeles.
The Powerful Utility Divas also won the top prize for outrageous outfit.
Other teams included Port Scandalous from the Port Scandalous Roller Derby team, Wild Wild Westport from Westport Marine, Un-Tied Way from the United Way, Park View Villains from Park View Villas, Team Envy from Envy Hair Techniques, Scallywags from Peninsula College, POE Ravens from Pacific Office Equipment Inc. and the Fed and Furious from FedEx Ground.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.