The first was the Box Car Race. The rules were simple. Prawns had to make a box car equipped with a cupholder for every passenger in the car. There was no limit to the number of people allowed in each box car, as long as each person had a cupholder.
Only two contestants showed up for the start of the race. A female Batman, Danelle du Preez, and her male sidekick Robin, Gerhard Pretorius, appeared first in their Batmobile.
Du Preez told Perdeby that she would be happy with any outcome in the race as long as they did not come last, because the losers of the race not only had to run around the track again but would have to do so naked.
They were joined a few minutes later by unicyclist Hannes de Meyer, who was wearing a toy car on his head with a cupholder attached to it.
Because organisers began the race before the scheduled time, a third team joined the race in the last stretch. The two guys, in a pig police box car, came second, with De Meyer winning the race. The contestants were awarded Oppikoppi 2014 tickets.
The highly anticipated Boom Street 500 Naked Dash took place on Saturday 10 August. Nearly 30 bewildered beasts took part in the race, including four girls.
The only requirement of the race was that contestants had to wear shoes. The naked run not only attracted the largest number of participants, but it also drew the biggest crowd. Innocent bystanders who were not in the know were probably very confused when naked people ran past them. Inebriated, overly confident naked people. The winner of the naked run was Steve Newman, who donned a strategically placed red rhino horn with his sneakers. Newman ran the race for Project Rhino KZN.
The third Dustbowl Olympic game was the Running of the Bewilderbeasts, which also took place on Saturday. Contestants had to be dressed in strange and funny outfits.
Despite the dust and scorching heat, contestants showed up in several animal onesies. Other fancy dress outfits included a guy in a tutu, Pikachu, two hippies, a mankini wearer and three painted zebras.
The winner of the race, Igor Zeljko, was dressed as The Joker. Zeljko told Perdeby after the race that he was ecstatic about the win. “I’ve been dressed like this since Tuesday. I like this joker persona. I feel like it gives me power,” he said.
