On a sunny September afternoon, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s (CSHL’s) annual Raft Race returned to CSHL’s Airslie Beach. Six teams of rowers dropped their makeshift rafts into the harbor. Race commodore, and CSHL COO, John Tuke started the countdown. Oars tensed. Coworkers, friends, and family crowded the sandy shore, eyes glued to the tiny fleet assembled in the shallows.
Tuke gave the signal. An offshore airhorn howled, and they were off, splashing down the 100-meter course.
Since 2015, the Raft Race has been a showcase of the CSHL community’s creative, ingenious, and competitive spirit. Each team is made up of at least three rowers whose hand-built rafts may or may not survive the course. Rafts are typically constructed from a myriad of odds and ends. This year was no different, featuring pool noodles, a surfboard, storage totes, and more.
“We had an unbelievably exciting race this year,” Tuke says. “There’s a lot going on in the world of science, and it’s easy to feel discouraged, but the spirit of people here really makes me proud to be a part of CSHL. This year was the largest crowd we’ve ever had. Seeing your colleagues come down to support you makes everyone feel like there’s more to being at Cold Spring Harbor than just work.”
This year, “We Got Bored,” crewed by postdocs Alex Harris and Guangran Guo and graduate student Brian Oh from CSHL’s Amor Vegas lab, outpaddled the competition to take first place with a penalty-adjusted time of 5 minutes, 35 seconds. Their victory will be immortalized alongside past winners on the Raft Race Oar hanging above CSHL’s Blackford Bar. “The Unsinkables,” piloted by Research Compliance Officer Lynn Blake, Senior Admin Becky Dong, IT Manager Paul Braun, and Research Associate Hrishikesh Deshpande, were awarded best name.
Written by: Nick Wurm, Communications Specialist | wurm@cshl.edu | 516-367-5940