Weighty Competition

By LAUREN SMITH

A larger-than-life group of faculty and staff members from Unity College used its monstrous mass this month to capture fourth place at the U.S. National Toboggan Championships, in Camden, Me.

Competing as Team Green Monster — a nod to Unity's environmentalist mission — the four men weigh a collective 1,130 pounds. In their debut, at last year's race, spectators called them the "biggest mass of humanity they've ever seen going down a chute," says Mark G. Tardif, associate director of college communications and, at 330 pounds, the team's second-heaviest member. "There were people running from concession stands to see us."

The team took a tumble last year, after Stephen S. Nason, director of residence life and the steersman, was momentarily blinded when his race number flipped up in front of his eyes.

They returned with a strategy this year, says Mr. Tardif: "Your sled needs to be like a dart, heavy toward the front, light toward the back." Despite another tumble, Team Green Monster beat all but one of Unity's 14 other entrants, Team Dude Sled, a squad of students, which placed second.

If mass increases a toboggan's speed, Team Green Monster may forfeit some of its advantage next year because of a weight-loss challenge taken up by Mr. Tardif and Mr. Nason, the team's heaviest competitor, at 350 pounds. The two have committed to lose 60 pounds each and are collecting pledges to benefit a scholarship program for students.

"All kidding aside," says Mr. Tardif, "we don't want to send a message to our students that bigger is better."