Swimmers scrub duckies for charity

This weekend, Xavier University's men's swim team sprinted towards the Ohio River to lend a helping hand to the Rubber Duck Regatta.

Surprisingly, they did not take to the water. Instead, the team stayed dry and cleaned a portion of the 10,000 rubber ducks that took part in the regatta this past weekend on the Ohio River at Newport on-the-Levee.

The swim team made a tradition out of partcipating in this event, and head coach Brent MacDonald believes that it is = beneficial for his team to get out into the community.

"I'm always proud to see our team donating their time with our community service projects," MacDonald said. "It's a fun day for the guys and it's great that we can help in the community."

The men's swim team have helped scrub the ducks after the regatta for a few years now, and often a competitive edge to the cleaning emerges during the process.

"The men have enjoyed doing it and have even turned it into a competition, trying to beat the previous time it took the year before," MacDonald said.

The Rubber Duck Regatta, which began 17 years ago, is a charity race among 10,000 rubber ducks that takes place every Labor Day weekend.

Prior to the race, the ducks are purchased for $5. The owners then drop their rubber racers into the river from the Purple People Bridge, leaving them to float down the Ohio River for a quarter of a mile.

Freestore Foodbank set up the race as a charity event to raise funds and provide food for under-privileged families in Greater Cincinnati. The winner of this year's race received a 2012 Honda Civic.

There was no such luck for the rubber ducks, who, after being cleaned with the help of our men's swim team, were boxed away to wait another year for their big day on the Ohio River.