Organizers of the revamped Kinetics have announced that the event will be held on Saturday, Aug. 28, at Union Reservoir in Longmont.
Organizers say it will have a different flavor than the one held for so many years at the Boulder Reservoir, which was sponsored by radio station KBCO and saw upwards of 45,000 spectators. They say this year’s Kineticists Kinetic Sculpture Race will be more family-friendly. There will be no alcohol allowed, and it is expected to have the feel of a triathlon event.
“It will be similar to what was done in the past, but instead of a radio station promotion, it will focus on the art and athletics of it,” says organizer Paul Bailey.
Bailey says there will be food and refreshment booths and some local bands, but otherwise, the event is “getting back to its roots.”
The competition requires participants to create a human-powered vehicle/sculpture that travels on both land and water. Started in 1969 in California, Kinetic Sculpture Racing came to Colorado in 1980, when Boulder firefighter Rick Hartner brought it to Niwot. KBCO hosted its last Kinetics event in 2007, and in the past two years, it was held on land only, first at the 29th Street Mall and last year at the Millennium Harvest House in Boulder.
This year, the event will be held as part of the Festival on Main in Longmont.
Bailey says holding it in late August instead of early May means the weather will be warmer and more reliable, and by then, CU students will have returned to school and will be able to participate.
“It’s getting back to the core of the event and how they do it in a lot of other places,” he says.
For more information, visit http://kineticists.org.
