Cheered on by people lining the street, fraternity and sorority members raced their colorful homemade chariots down Fairmount Avenue Friday afternoon.
The Chariot Race, one of the last events of Greek Week 2009, is a traditional Greek Week event, said Kimberly Aubrey, Greek Week overall chairwoman.
"It's a really cool event because we do it every year, and it's fun to see all the different kinds of chariots people come up with," Aubrey said.
The triad of Acacia fraternity, Sigma Delta Tau sorority and Alpha Kappa Delta Phi sorority won the race in 7.75 seconds, Aubrey said.
Acacia member Thomas Fiki, a Greek Week programming captain, helped run the chariot to victory. It was an exhilarating experience because he was afraid he and his teammates would fall, he said.
About 20 triads -- groups of three fraternity and sorority chapters participating together in Greek Week events -- submitted a chariot for the race, with the goal of having the fastest time, Aubrey said. Each chariot was decorated to reflect the triad's Greek Week theme.
Each carrying one person and powered by four people, chariots raced two at a time down Fairmount Avenue between Fraternity Row and Locust Lane.
The chariot of Omega Phi Alpha sorority, Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity and Triangle fraternity was designed to look like a boat and won best-looking chariot even though it collapsed before making it to the finish line.
Taking on the theme of New Lonely Island's "I'm on a Boat," the chariot was painted white with red trim, had blue water painted along the bottom and featured the text "I'm on a boat."
"We pushed it to the limit," said Alpha Gamma Rho member Chris Conover (senior-mechanical engineering). Although the group had spent the entire week working on the chariot, Conover wasn't expecting it to stay in one piece, he added.
Jennifer Crothers (freshman-elementary education) rode in the chariot and said she was a little nervous, but the experience wasn't as scary because she was sitting and couldn't see the road.
"It was fun until it fell apart," Crothers. "I didn't really expect it to happen, so I wasn't really scared, but I was surprised."
