Lucas Punkari
In her first time competing at a Soap Box Derby event, seven-year-old Marie-Mai Langevin of Fort Frances turned in a strong performance at Valley City, N.D. on Saturday.
Going up against 27 other competitors in the “stock” category, Langevin finished up in fourth place overall and just lost out to the eventual winner in her final race of the day.
“I was really happy about how I did, and to get a trophy at the end was really exciting,” she said.
“I was looking forward to heading down there, especially when I headed down the hill for the first time, and I was getting more and more excited as I was winning,” Langevin added.
“I’m already looking forward to going back again next year because I had a lot of fun.”
Saturday’s event in Valley City, a five-and-half-hour drive from Fort Frances, was the closest competition Langevin could take part in as she and her dad, Patrick, took part in their first-ever event.
“We started to work on the car around Christmas time, so this was something that was totally new and exiting for us to get into,” Patrick explained.
“We were kind of like the newbies when we headed down to Valley City because we weren’t sure how the car was going to preform and how well it would go down the hill speed-wise,” he admitted.
“Around here, there aren’t a lot of places to drive the car.”
After losing in her first race, the youngster quickly got a handle on how to compete against her opponents, especially in making sure her machine used the forces of gravity to its advantage as it rolled down the hill towards the finish line.
“As I competed more and more, I made sure that I was bending down as much as I could in the car,” she explained.
“At first, she was not bending down enough to get as much air over the car,” noted her dad.
“But she was able to get into a position where the car was in a straight line going down the hill instead of going to the left or to the right.”
In addition to her strong showing, Langevin also had a lot of support from those on hand, especially since she was the only Canadian participating.
“They even had someone sing ‘O Canada’ before the event started just for me, which was very cool,” she smiled.
“Everyone there [was] answering all of our questions and giving us tips on how to go faster,” her dad added.
“It was a great experience and it almost felt like they were all cheering for us at times,” he enthused.
Langevin already is looking forward to competing next year at Valley City, where she will have a teammate coming aboard as her younger brother, Yannick, will take part in the competition.
“You have to be seven years old to compete in the event, and he will be old enough next year to do that,” Patrick Langevin explained.
“He was actually down there this weekend to cheer her on and he got to make a few friends in between the races, as well, which was nice to see,” he added.
