Sign up for the Crate Race
The “International Great Crate Race” is open to anyone brave enough to risk falling into the chilly ocean with thousands of people watching your every move!
Sign up for the Crate Race occurs the day of the race, Sunday, August 4, 2024 at the Information Booth starting at 7 am. But come early as the spots fill up quickly and space is limited, in fact, the line starts forming around 5 am. The race starts at 2 pm!
Watch the 2024 International Great Crate Race
There is a fee of $15 for contestants 12 and older, and $10 for children 11 and younger.
Taking the challenge of scampering across a string of floating wood lobster crates is, without a doubt, among the biggest splashes at the annual Maine Lobster Festival. This test of balance and endurance — and sometimes a bit of theatrics — is a major attraction that regularly draws hundreds of spectators.
Lobster crate racing requires speed, quick feet, balance and, above all else, the ability to withstand a dunking in chilly Maine waters because most competitors do end up in the drink.
The race course is a string of 50 wooden lobster crates stretching across a section of Rockland’s inner harbor in full view of the Festival grounds. While trying to reach the other end, contestants scamper across the barely floating lobster crates. If successful, a contestant turns and heads back to the other end. The “race” for each runner continues until a fall into the water occurs or until exhaustion takes over.
The Maine Lobster Festival’s International Great Crate Race is the world’s original crate race, invented by Diane and William Atwood in the 1970s in Spruce Head, Maine. Diane was sitting at the wharf looking down at a string of lobster crates in the water, and thought, “I wonder how many we could run across.” It was that curiosity that drove the idea. Atwood’s sons, David and Sam, nephew Marty Molloy, and other local kids (including today’s manager of the race, Shannon Kinney) tested the original race course. The crates originally had either lobsters or nothing in them, while today’s crates are filled with seaweed (and no lobsters) to help them float.
The first official races were between the competing lobster buyers of Atwood’s Wharf and the neighboring Spruce Head Coop. The employees of both would compete for bragging rights. Throughout the ‘80s it was a huge event in Spruce Head. Spectators would come to watch, and the Wicked Good Band would play on top of the Bait House roof.
The event was managed by the Atwood family for more than 20 years. For the last twenty years it’s been managed by family friend Shannon Kinney, who joined the Maine Lobster Festival Board in 2010. Members of the Atwood family and friends are still part of the team keeping the tradition alive. And what a tradition it is – people fly from all over the world each year to take part in this special event.
The first record was set in the 1980’s by David Atwood with 1,000 crates. Susan Lundquist was the next long-standing record holder with 3,007 crates. In 2008 that record was broken by Andrew Bachiochi by running 4,501 crates. In 2012, crate race champion Connor McGonagle, age 12, of Owls Head, Maine, smashed Bachiochi’s record when he wowed the crowd by covering 6,000 crates. He never did fall! In 2014, we had a tie for winners with 6,500 crates: Scarlett Flint, 7, of Warren, Maine, and Harrison Page, 9, of South Berwick, Maine. Neither winner ever fell in! In 2015, Flint returned and successfully defended her title after running an incredible 3,000 crates without ever falling in. In 2016 she again defended her title, winning with 1,500 crates. The 2023 winner with 6,188 crates was Aiden Genthner of Owls Head, Maine.
All-Time Overall record
2014 – Scarlett Flint & Harrison Page tied – 6,500
All-Time Featherweight Record
2014 – Scarlett Flint & Harrison Page tied – 6,500
All-Time Lightweight Record
2023 – Aiden Genthner – 6,188
All-Time Mediumweight Record
2015 – Connor McGonagle – 524
All-Time Supersize Record
2010 – Alex Stewart – 104
Each year’s Great Crate Race attracts plenty of contestants, and a large crowd – get there early! It’s a sight not to be missed and an event certainly worth trying, if for no other reason than the memory and the ability to brag that you challenged the crates at the Maine Lobster Festival.
