Oak Bay’s mayor outlasted two Olympic medallists on Sunday in choppy waters that cut short this year’s floating teacup race off Willows Beach.
Mayor Kevin Murdoch was challenged by Olympians Dominic Seiterle and Adam Kreek in the race, a tradition at the annual Oak Bay Tea Party.
Both Sieterle and Kreek are two-time Olympians and were part of a national rowing team that won gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
But the windy teacup race with mismatched oars proved to be too much for the two international-class rowers.
Shortly after race start, Seiterle lost his balance and toppled into the water.
Kreek followed soon after.
Only Murdoch was left bobbing in a fiberglass teacup, drifting southwards and away from shore.
When he realized that the wind could not be beaten — even with Kreek’s assistance after he swam over to help — Murdoch dived away from his teacup to cheers from the crowd.
In a post race interview, Murdoch said the race was somewhat unfair to his competitors.
Sieterle, who had stepped into a racing teacup for the first time on Sunday, said the mayor — now a three-time race winner — was better trained and equipped for teacup racing.
Kreek blamed his performance on a pre-race meal. “The mushrooms I ate beforehand put me at a disadvantage,” he joked.
Hazel Braithwaite, an Oak Bay councillor and former teacup race contestant, said the conditions were the worst that she had seen in 20 years.
Usually, contestants are able to make it further out in the water and around the Oak Bay Sea Rescue vessel that acts as a race-course marker, she said.
Braithwaite, who was adjudicating the race this year, called a three-way tie for first place.
Sunday’s inclement weather saw only about a hundred spectators. The lighthearted event has packed the beach in previous years.
Several tea party events were cancelled due to the weather, including musical performances, a demonstration rescue from the Oak Bay Sea Rescue, and a skydiving demonstration.
Sandy Germain, Oak Bay Tea Party Society chair, said the teacup race has been a fixture at the event since 2002.
The first race was a competition between the mayors of Victoria and Oak Bay.
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