Sunday Baseline Service at Camp & The Ted 10,000 Swim Relay!

Today on the Camp Balcones Springs blog, we will be highlighting our events from Sunday, June 12 – the infamous Ted 10,000 Swimming and Road Relays, and our Sunday Baseline service at camp!

Baseline is what we call our Sunday church service here at camp. Although we are a Christian camp and that informs many of our teachings of acceptance and love toward one another, we also aim to be a space that is affirming and inclusive of campers from all faiths and backgrounds. Thus, our church services are accessible for all campers and do not require them to share a knowledge of or belief in the Bible. Each term, we invite a different guest speaker to camp to give an inspiring speech during our Baseline service. Sometimes these people are former campers or staff, and sometimes they are friends of Camp Balcones Springs who happen to have an inspiring story or particular bit of wisdom we think is worthy of sharing with campers. This year, we invited camp dad Mark Winter to speak at the Term 1 Baseline service.

Mr. Winter focused on our summer theme – Dare to Soar – and told campers these were words to live by. He taught a lesson about the word ‘BOLD’ – breaking each letter into a separate word that campers could use to imbue more meaning into the term. B for “brave” – and how impressed Mr. Winter was that campers were brave enough to come to camp – O for “owning it” – we are all going to make mistakes, and it is just important for us to own those mistakes as it is for us to try not to make them – L for “love” – and how part of being bold is loving everyone around us, even those it may be more difficult or less popular to love – and D for “dream” – encouraging campers to figure out what they want to do in life and to boldly do it!

Sunday night the annual Ted 10,000 (easier said than done) events took place at Balcones Beach. These events are annual camp traditions, held every term, and consist of three swim races of various lengths: the Ted 10,000, 5,000 and 2,000. The day also includes a Phun Run road race and a Splash ‘N Dash swim/run relay event. Campers of all ages and cabins are permitted to enter, and the entire event is monitored by lifeguards and coaches to ensure camper safety throughout.

This year, the Ted 10,000 was completed in record time by Danika Veder of San Jacinto cabin. Danika finished the swim in 6:07. Josie Bralower of Porter cabin came in second, followed in third by Harper Glass of King cabin. Nate Whittens, Head of the Lake Ted Waterfront, commented that he “… was really impressed with girls camp because they swept the Ted 10 race!” That’s right – the top three spots in this year’s Ted 10,000 finishers were all girl campers!

Boy campers held their own in the other events, however. Liam Metschan took first place in the Phun Run, finishing the running race around camp in 11:36. Boston Lewis took second place, and Camille O’Driscoll took third and was the first girl to cross the finish line. The Splash ‘N Dash, a combination of the Ted 2,000 and part of the Phun Run, was won by Caroline Powell of Coleman cabin who finished in 14:55. A group of Senior Campers attempted to break the record of slowest Phun Run ever completed (held by Will Huff at 2 hours and 42 minutes), but they were unsuccessful in their venture. Meanwhile, in our two shorter swim relays, Louis Hanson of Houston cabin took first in the Ted 5,000, finishing in 4:17, and Vikram Gowda of Beticheck finished first in the Ted 2,000 with a time of 4:15. After the races concluded, all campers enjoyed ice cream sundaes on Balcones Beach.

Stay tuned for more blogs as we catch up on events from the last few days!