By Mike Nolan
Mike@TheBallstonJournal.com

BALLSTON SPA — For a few hours last Saturday, Bath Street had a different type of vehicle coming down its hill.

Celebrating their 10th anniversary, the Rolling Roadsters event kicked off on top of the Bath Street hill in Ballston Spa. Similar to a soapbox derby, the event consisted of cars or “roadsters” solely powered by gravity, which raced down the haystack bordered course.

This year, 11 racers in four different homemade cars competed in a double elimination format. They were separated into four different age divisions, 7 to 8, 9 to 11, 12+ and adult. Trophies were awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd for each category.

Meg Stevens who’s been organizing the event since it’s inception in 2000, said she was pleased with the turnout, after last year the race was cancelled due to lack of participants.

“The kids always have a lot of fun with this, it’s [the cars] something that both parents and kids can work on together,” Stevens said.

According to Stevens, her husband Ken and Ballston Spa Mayor John Romano originally came up with the idea after looking to create a soapbox derby type competition that was much less expensive.

“Some of the kits for soapbox derby cars can be very expensive,” Stevens said. “By building these homemade rolling roadsters, children and parents can get the chance to compete in a similar event for much less.

The four roadsters competing at this year’s event included the Landshark and Union Fire Co., cars who have been racing since the event started, and newcomers the D-Line Express and Greenspeed. Union Fire Co. swept the field, taking first in each of the four age divisions.

In the 7 to 8 age group, Shawn Morse rode for Union Fire Co. taking Landshark’s Jared Brown in the finals. For the 9 to 11 age group, Dylan Hamblin took the win for Union Fire Co., defeating Landshark’s Jasmine Akari for 1st place. In the 12+ age group, Union Fire Co.’s Gabriel Brown took the win for Union Fire Co. beating out the D-Line Express’s Karra Brown. In the adult division, Dick Duffy won for Union Fire Co., defeating second place finisher Josh Brown who rode for the D-Line Express.

“This is a great event for the community and kids,” said ’05, ’06 and now ’10 adult division winner Dick Duffy. “I work for the Union Fire Co. and am part of the village board, this is something I enjoy being a part of for the community.”

Duffy is not the only member of the Union Fire Co. who helps with the event. Much of the department has helped to put together their roadster, fixing it up year-after-year, and work as volunteers at the event. The department also puts on a picnic after the race for all participants.

Carmen Isabella, a fireman at Union Fire Co., has been helping with the event since its inception.

“My favorite part is watching the kids have a good time,” Isabella said while judging from the finish line. “Our department has been racing since the beginning. We pick kids to race for us that have parents in the department or are close friends of the department. Landshark and us have been here since the beginning, it’s a friendly rivalry.”

Landshark, originally build by Larry Burke of Ballston Spa, has been handed down to friends and family each year.

Arik Mathison of Milton, who’s son Oliver raced Greenspeed, said his family decided to put together their car after seeing a promotion for the event. Built with a hockey steering wheel and tennis shoe for a brake, Mathison said his two son’s Oliver, age 8 and Simen, age 6, both helped him put together their first-year car.

“It sounded like a fun idea,” Mathison said. “Oliver had a plan all set up and we put it together and tested it on the driveway before racing.”

Each driver had to wear a safety helmet and roadsters needed brakes that worked. At the bottom of the hill sand was added this year to help cars come to a complete stop. Stevens said safety has become a bigger part of the event after a racer was flipped in the air due to faulty brakes several years ago. There was a pre-inspection followed by test runs of each car at 7 a.m.

Stevens said she hopes participation will only continue to increase, so the event can keep growing.

“It’s such a great event for the kids and parents,” Stevens said. “Jasmine [Akari] came up to me after her first test run [on Saturday] and told me with a huge smile on her face ‘that was so awesome.’”