Hunter Whitaker won the Awana Grand Prix Race on Thursday evening at Intermountain Baptist Church. The average time for Hunter’s car was 2.871 seconds.
Hunter Whitaker wins the Awana Grand Prix
Shadrach Hennessey won best car design for the Spark age group competition, and Matthew Hennessey won best car design for the Truth and Training (T&T) age group.
Shadrach Hennessey and Matthew Hennessey won best design
More than 100 people came to watch as 35 cars built by children in the Awana youth program competed in the race. Each child built and designed his car from a kit including a block of wood wheels and axles.
The race was conducted by Awana leaders Peter and Joshua Hennessey.
Awana Leaders Peter and Joshua Hennessey with cars ready to race
Before the race Gerry Mead, who oversees the Awana program at Intermountain Baptist, gave a short talk in which he told the children that life is like a racing event. The goal is to reach the finish line. The finish line is to make it to heaven. To make it to heaven one needs to believe in Jesus.
Jerry Mead gave introductory remarks
Then, the race was on.
The race is on
The cars race in four lanes. Every car ran four heats so that they all had a chance to compete in each lane. Times were determined by an electronic device at the finish line and the average times for all four heats were determined by computer. Hunter’s car not only won the race but his car beat last year’s winning time in all four races.
The competition was swift and close
About sixty children from the Burney area participate in the Awana program that is held each Thursday evening from Fall through Spring.
Awana is a world-wide nonprofit ministry focused on providing Christian youth education for children ages 2-18. It was founded in 1950 in Illinois and has expanded throughout the United States and the world. Currently, Awana works through 58,000 churches throughout the world to serve 4 million children in 120 counties.
The name Awana is derived from the first letters of “Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed” derived from 2 Timothy 2:15. The program includes two age groups, Sparks for younger children and T&T for older youth.
Pit River Country 