22nd Annual Labor Day Police Challenge

Bragging rights mean an awful lot. To earn them, you might train vigorously in your spare time, shooting as many free throws as your arms can handle, running hundreds of laps around the track, and stuffing your belly with meatballs nearly to the point of rupture. Wait a second… Stuffing your belly with meatballs? Yep, a little gluttony is just a small part of the training regimen employed by Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, and Boca Raton’s finest as they prepare to cream each other during the 22nd annual Labor Day Police Challenge.

The daylong contest between the three departments is a rich, Labor Day tradition, and it wouldn’t be complete without the meatball-eating contest. As you can imagine, watching your friendly, neighborhood officer succumb to multiple pounds of ground round is a sight to behold, but it’s not the only high-draw event of the day. Spectators also come out in big numbers for the three-on-three basketball tourney, a schoolyard rules grudge match that answers the question: “Do cops play dirty when the ref’s not looking?” There’s also the 80-yard relay, the heated beach volleyball tournament, and the Chief’s Challenge, a triathlon of sorts where the three senior gendarmes test their skills at free throws, football tossing, and billiards for the right to display the coveted Chief’s Trophy in their headquarters for the next year. Expect some spirited competition and more than one cop humming “Eye of the Tiger” when the contest kicks off at noon at the Delray Municipal Beach off Atlantic Avenue and Ocean Boulevard, before moving across the street to Boston’s on the Beach (40 S. Ocean Blvd.) at 1:30 p.m.
Mon., Sept. 1, 2008