Yoko wins PIC Duck Race

The crown cheer for their ducks as the as the toys race for the finish line in Pacific Islands Club Saipan’s 12th Annual PIC Duck Race for Cancer last Saturday. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

Yoko bought a ticket worth one duck for the Pacific Islands Club Saipan’s 12th Annual PIC Duck Race for Cancer last Saturday, and took home $2,500 when her duck won first place.

A total of 2,500 plastic ducks raced on the Lazy River of PIC, yet only four ducks made it to the finish line and won a prize. According to Dennis Tababa, PIC director of Sports, Entertainment and Activities, the last names of the winners cannot be released due to privacy reasons.

Clark’s duck swam in second place for $300, followed by third place Juni’s duck, scoring $200, and in fourth place, Nojima’s duck, won $50.

The concept is that members of the public sponsor a plastic duck for $5 each and the toys are then released on PIC’s Lazy River, and the first one to cross the finish line after making one full circuit of the river wins. In all, PIC sold over 2,500 ducks. In total, PIC raised about $12,500 which will be donated to the Commonwealth Cancer Association.

According to Tababa, you don’t need to be present to win any of the prizes, which is why PIC’s support comes from all over the world from as far as Boston, Massachusetts, to Paris, Thailand, Japan, and more, just to buy ducks for the race in support of the CNMI Cancer Association

One of the buyers, Frank Seo from Paris, has been supporting PIC’s Duck Race for 12 years and had been buying a total of 50 ducks every year in support of the CCA. Seo is also a former employee of PIC.

“The money that’s being raised just goes back to the community and the importance of the event is to just spread more awareness,” said Tababa.

According to Lindsay Ahn, Corporate Social Responsibility manager of E-Land Group (Saipan), which owns PIC, they were worried that not many people would join the duck race, but due to the support of the community and people who joined, the event was a total success.

“We are really grateful for the support and that this signature event of PIC is an event where everyone can have fun and there’s a good cause that comes out of it,” said Ahn. She also added that if there are other things that they can do to help contribute to the community of CNMI, they would be happy to.

The event’s sponsors are PIC, Bridge Capital, Pacific Trading Co., Pepsi, Gatorade, and E-Land.