Pie toss fuels on swimmers

A note to future fundraiser organizers: Provide the right incentive.
The Fort Frances Aquanauts Swim Team held its annual swim-a-thon on Saturday morning and for a few of the athletes, the festivities also included hurling a pie in the face of their coach.
Swimmers with the club have been busy collecting pledges over the past few weeks in anticipation of the event, which came with a special incentive. Those earning $150 or more would have the chance to “cream” coach Tristan Hutton.
For two hours, swimmers completed as many laps as they could in the 25m pool as parents looked on and tallied the totals.
The younger kids only may have competed a handful of laps, but the more experienced swimmers pushed their numbers to impressive lengths. Jillian Gustafson, for instance, completed 250 lengths of the pool—equivalent to 6.5 km.
Eighteen Aquanauts took part in the fundraising swim, pulling in more than $1,800 for the club. Their efforts also resulted in seven pies for Hutton, including a pair of throws from seven-year-old Chad Westover.
This is the second year the pie-pitching caveat has been worked into the fundraising efforts. “It gives the kids something to shoot for,” said event organizers. “Tristan is a good sport.”
As in any other area of life, wisdom comes with experience—even when taking a pie to the face.
“Last year my ears got full of stuff,” noted Hutton, who smartly was sporting a swimming cap and goggles as a preventative measure. “It took me days to get it all out.”
As each swimmer stepped forward, it was clear the concept of “pie” was open to interpretation. For some, it meant cherries and whipped cream while for others, a pie was made up of whatever you could fit in the tin.
According to Gustafson, that meant chicken soup, yogurt, a raw egg, coffee grounds, and an unidentified brown sauce.