All participants of the first Contra Costa College Olympics received $100 for completion of all the events while first place was awarded $500, second place $350 and third place $250 on the Soccer Field on Saturday.

Incoming Associated Student Union Parliamentary Officer Jackie Ortiz said the ASU’s event aimed to create scholarship opportunities for students, while at the same time getting them outside to exercise and have fun at the end of the year.

Emergency medical technician major and All-Conference Comet soccer player Eduardo Escamilla said he is using the first place money for either fees for the police academy or EMT training.

“It’s funny. I heard about this event yesterday and signed up last night,” he said.

Escamilla, one of the only college students to participate, said this event could have been bigger.

“Despite low engagement at the end of the day, it is a team effort between the school and the students to make an event successful. This school has a good spirit,” he said.

He said this event was a positive experience for anyone who came through.

The Olympics competition was  not only based on athletic prowess. Brain games also balanced out the competition.

The competitive games featured a timed mile run around the soccer field, an obstacle course, a round of trivia questions, a push-up contest, an eating contest and a written test.

Canned peaches were used to accommodate the eating portion of the competition.

Since its announcement earlier this semester, Ortiz said the organizers of the event were able to sign up 30 students. However, only nine participants showed up. 

Ortiz said as she was organizing the CCC Olympics the marketing campaign went really well, but then it became difficult to sign people up to participate.

She said advertising was done for the event through fliers and word of mouth, but with finals close by and the event being on the weekend, logistics deterred possible participants from attending.

Biology major Danasia Allison said because Finals Week creates stress on her body, she used the event to get her mind off school and studying. “It is more a stress reliever than anything,” she said.

Allison said the CCC Olympics allowed her to experience a way to have fun with the community.

“I’ve never been to something like this,” she said.

Apart from the free food —Subway sandwiches, pizza and ice cream — Allison enjoyed the one-mile run around the Soccer Field.

The event encouraged friends and family members of contestants to come out and support participating students.

Richmond resident James Daily said he came out to support his younger sister, Allison.

Daily said he appreciates CCC as the “college in his backyard” where he can take his daughter on weekends. At the end, all the students who participated left with an optimistic view of returning to school, especially the ones with assurance of picking up checks at the ASU Office on the next business day.