How about canoes on wheels?
``We don't have any water, so we put them on wheels,'' said Heidi Winzinger, cochairwoman of tomorrow's event.
What transforms a canoe into a land-friendly apparatus is a makeshift combination of shopping-cart wheels, red straps from Home Depot, and electrical tubing. Two handy folks - an electrician and an engine maker - designed the contraption, which resembles a small bed frame.
``Call it the waterless canoe race - creek-less, but not hopeless,'' Robert Sims said after test-running the canoes this week on a cracked parking lot behind the Mount Holly garage where he builds parts for race cars.
Count this group among the ranks of individuals trying to salvage what the deficient rainfall has threatened to destroy. Rather than cancel the races, which were the reason several Mount Holly residents started the event last year, they moved the sprints to the streets.
``We were trying to renew an interest in canoeing in Mount Holly,'' said Nancy Jones, another cochairwoman. ``We did not want to lose the original focus of the day. We had these neat painted paddles for the winners.''
Jones' two children transformed the drab gray canoes into fancy floats, each with its own theme: the Holly Bomber, the Love Boat, the Hippie Chick, and the Hot Dawg.
From the starting line at Mill and High Streets, competitors will push the decorated canoes toward traffic cones several hundred feet away, then loop around and race back.
The races will be held from 2 to 6 p.m., and the winners will still get the paddles, organizers said.
After several test runs this week, organizers decided to line the course with straw bales, just in case a canoe barrels out of control.
``When you get them on a flat surface, they are really moving,'' Winzinger said.
What started last year as primarily a canoe race sponsored by the Mount Holly Race Day committee has grown into an event with other competitions.
Canoe and kayaking races sponsored by the Rancocas Conservancy and Rancocas Creek Association set for 10 a.m. are still on. This event will start at Smithville Mansion in Eastampton, where the creek is not as low, said Mandy McGonigle, an organizer of the Rancocas Regatta.
``There are a couple of spots where we may have to get out and push [the boats],'' McGonigle said. ``But we are still having it. We wanted to persevere.''
The Race Day committee had thought about doing the same. Members considered trying to persuade county officials to let the Mill Dam down, allowing some water to pour through to the shallow part of the creek.
But they thought about it again.
``There is really no water up there to move,'' Jones said. ``We can't take their water away. They can't get it back.''
Other attractions around Fountain Square in Mount Holly tomorrow include a bicycle race at 10 a.m., environmental exhibits from noon to 5 p.m., a 5-kilometer footrace at 5:30 p.m., and concerts starting at 6:30 p.m.
Most events are free. Some have registration fees.
