By Jonathan Copsey/ STAFF

Jada and Tim Thompkins master the “buddy walker”	John Quitto cheers as he and his family finish the daunting obstacle course.
Chad Flynt plays catch with stepdaughter Makenzie Woodham during a break in activities
Jay French is carted around by son Carlton during the wheelbarrow race	DJ Chris Walker hosts the hula hoop contest betwen finalists Peyton Creswell (left) and Caroline French (right)
Jessica Kim oversees the fruit of her labors at the first annual Family Challenge.

Last Saturday was a hot day, but the heat on the event lawn of the Alpharetta Community Center wasn’t from any solar effect; it was the heat of battle. The pitting of wits and wills against one another and the war cries of the victorious or the wailing of the defeated echoed in the air. The challenge had begun – The Family Challenge.

The first annual Alpharetta Family Challenge was the pet project of Jessica Kim, soon-to-be graduate of UGA, who has been interning at the city’s Recreation and Parks Department. Part of her internship was to come up with a project. While thinking of possible ideas, it was Kim’s fiancée who suggested something for families.

“I thought it would be great to engage the community and the family in something that’s competitive and fun, get the family to come out so they can do things together instead of separately,” said Kim. “Hopefully this will be an annual event and it’ll grow bigger and it’ll just be great.” California Pizza Kitchen and Publix both signed up to lend financial support to the event.

When she first announced the idea for a family challenge, Kim was unsure how it would be received by the community. 

“It’s a little difficult because if its not been done before you don’t know if it’ll be successful or not, but the competitive families were on board and ready to go immediately.”

And those families really were competitive. Be they groups of three or five or more, more than a dozen families showed up to take part in contests ranging from potato-sack races to obstacle courses to trivia, all with a fire in their eyes and the desire to win at any cost.  As long as it’s fun.

The French family of Alpharetta was a late-comer to the Challenge but nevertheless threw themselves into the games.

 
“This is great,” said patriarch Jay French. “It’s great for families and it’s great to come out and do something as a family. It’s a little warm but there’s plenty of water so it’s fine. Kids getting out to get some exercise is much better than playing video games and watching TV. They like the video games and TV but they also like to get out and compete. This way we can get out and do something as a family together.”

And French experienced that first hand as 13-year-old Carlton wheeled his father down the track in the wheelbarrow walk race. The French family made a strong showing in several of the events, with Caroline, 11, winning an impromptu hula hoop contest begun by the DJ, Chris Walker of Disc Jockey’s Unlimited Inc., whose music and small prizes added to the competitive atmosphere. Adding to the sporting event feeling was Mad Italian vending their food, especially water and their famous Philly Cheesesteak.

“I’ll be back next year,” said Lorri Creswell, whose family, including husband Joe and daughter Peyton, took part. The trio won the “Buddy Walker Race,” where two partners stand on sleds and hold onto ropes attached to the sleds. They have to move their feet at the same time in order to make the “buddy walkers” move. The Creswell’s happened to be the ones who fell down least.

Creswell’s words seemed to sum up the feeling of the families taking part in the first annual Alpharetta Family Challenge as they slipped, tumbled and rolled through the events, laughing and cheering all the way. It was a good day to be a family.