For those who didn’t know what was going on, it would have been a strange sight. It may have looked like a marathon getting ready to start with people wearing numbers on their t-shirts. That is until you noticed that there were some people wearing capes and swim goggles (yes, at the same time), others wore old-tyme newspaper kid outfits, and we can’t forget about the group that looked like they came fresh from the emergency room wrapped in bandages and neck braces. No, this wasnt the start of a marathon, but it was a race. The 3rd Annual Amuzing Race Fundraiser for the Rochester Public Library Foundation.

To explain the strange dress code of this year’s race, there was a costume contest that was judged by a panel of members from the three boards at the library: The Friends Board, the Library Board and the Foundation Board. And the winning team of the costume contest... The Speed Readers.

This year’s race took the 38 teams all over Rochester and even into Byron. In order to earn their clues, teams had to sing campfire songs, make s’mores, get a hole-in-one, canoe, build a 3’ structure using raw spaghetti noodles and gumdrops, find the bookmobile, and find an ad in the Post-Bulletin.

Team members and volunteers met up in the end at the Olmsted County History Center and enjoyed a picnic lunch sponsored by John Hardy’s Bar-B-Q.

Over $9,700 were raised with the help of the sponsors and team registration fees. This money will go towards the vision and mission of the Rochester Public Library Foundation.  The library uses Foundation funds to augment collections, expand programs, and launch pilot projects that enrich the lives of the citizens of Olmsted County.

We would like to thank all the team members for participating in this event, all the people who volunteered to help out in any way before, during and after the race, and to all the sponsors who donated money, services, prizes, and hosted legs of the race.

First Place - Team #87 The Fatties and the Daddies

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