Annandale Bed Race raises money for Special Olympics

A team from Silverado restaurant took first place at the Annandale Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Bed Race Saturday morning, but the real winner was the Special Olympics, the main beneficiary of the teams’ $500 entry fee.

Twenty-two teams competed in the event, which gets bigger every year. Each team decorated a hospital bed and raced it up and down a stretch of John Marr Drive in front of Kmart.

Silverado server Chris Jee said the secret to the team’s success was communication. They all knew what to do during the crucial mid-point when teams had to turn their bed around and head back to the finish line, he said. This is the second year in the row that Silverado won. [More photos at the end of the article.]

The Beanetics Team, representing Rep. Gerry Connolly, came in second, and a team from Giant Food finished third. All competitors received plaques, and winners received gift certificates.

A team from TD Bank won for the “best decorated” bed, and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police Department received honorable mention for their bed rigged out as a Washington Flyer shuttle vehicle.

The Korean American Association of Northern Virginia won for the “most entertaining group.” While the other groups’ had a “patient” lying in the bed, their group ran the race with a patient standing up.
The “patient” in the Firefighters Local 2068 was Board of Supervisors Chair Sharon Bulova. Hapmudo not only competed, but put on a martial arts show.

Among other competitors: the Military Police Corps stationed at Fort Belvoir, the Pope John Paul II Council of the Knights of Columbus in Annandale, Burger King (in support of Braddock Supervisor John Cook), the Arlington Sherriff’s Office, Fairfax County Fire and Rescue, Americorp Investment Group, the Fairfax County Police Department, Navy Federal Credit Union, Magill’s restaurant, and the Northern Virginia Criminal Justice Training Academy.