This June, the tubs will be racing down the mean streets of Hot Springs.
After a forced hiatus in 2020, the Stueart Pennington World Championship Running of the Tubs bathtub racesare back! The 2021 bathtub races will be held on June 5 at 9 a.m., with the starting line set in front of the Arlington Resort Hotel and Spa on Bathhouse Row.
Now in its 15th edition, the 2021 races will bring back the 2019 champions, who will seek to defend their titles. Bathhouse Soapery will defend its title in the Traditional Division, which is the cast iron tub division. Meanwhile, the Austin Weirdos of Austin, Texas will be making the trip to Hot Springs to add another win in the Modified Division, which uses fiberglass or plastic tubs.
See the complete lineup of competitors below:
Traditional (Cast Iron): Visit Hot Springs (Hogwarts Express); Window Mart (Gangsters); O’Reilly; Riser Ford; Bathhouse Soapery & Caldarium; Healthstar Physicians of Hot Springs; The Waters Hotel.
Modified (Fiberglass/Plastic Tubs): 5 Guys One Tub (The Tub Thumpers); Austin Weirdos (Troop 512); Hale Entertainment; Hot Springs Police Department (The Hot Springs SWAT Team); Hot Springs Fire Department; Level Up Appliances (Level UP); Hot Springs National Park (Bathers of the Lost Park); Oaklawn Rotary.
Stock: Spa Pacers, Trail Advocacy Coalition of the Ouachitas (Team TACO).
“We missed the 2020 Running of the Tubs Championships because of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Visit Hot Springs Marketing Director Bill Solleder said in a statement. “But all the winners from 2019 are going to be back for the resumption of this fun-filled celebration on June 5.”
There are a range of rules for participating in the bathtub races, with the organizers noting that the rules “are subject to change at the whim of the judges.” Tubs must be no smaller than 48 inches long and 24 inches wide and wheels can be no bigger than 30 inches in diameter and no more than 48 inches wide.
The tubs are all “manually powered,” with four team members pushing the tub. Each team consists of five members, who must all be more than 18 years old. These team members include the captain, bath towel attendant, bath mat attendant, soap attendant and loofah mitt attendant.
See the full list of rules here.
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