Franz Prokop is trying out his new Jeep, which he won just four days ago at the Rotary Duck Race.

The current realtor and former Maple Ridge councillor bought about 25 tickets to support the Rotary club, which he used to belong to and which he called a "damned good club."

The Jeep - bright yellow-orange 4X4 - was donated as the grand prize by Maple Ridge Chrysler.

But the big winners in the Rotary Duck Race are the organizations that sold tickets and, on Sept. 26, will receive the funds they raised and perhaps a little more from tickets sold by Rotary members.

Pitt Meadows Paddling Club commodore Rick Hammer was selling duck race tickets at the Haney Farmers Market.

With 100 per cent of the proceeds going back to the organization that sells the tickets, Hammer said "you get a really big bang for your buck."

At the farmers market and other venues, Rotarians set up the booth to sell the tickets, so the club only had to supply the manpower to sell the tickets, Hammer said.

At the same time, being at the farmers market selling Rotary duck tickets, Hammer was able to raise the profile of the Pitt Meadows Paddling Club.

While the first priority was selling duck tickets, he was able to tell people about the programs being offered by the club on the Alouette River in Pitt Meadows.

Ridge Meadows Minor Hockey Association was also involved in selling Rotary duck tickets, but the only snag they hit was that it was off-season for hockey players and the teams had already disbanded.

But the executive members of the minor hockey association and their families sold tickets, according to the association's president Glen Mund who called Sunday's Rotary Duck Race a "great event."

"As an event, it's fantastic," he said. "We're just trying to figure out a way to get more involved."

The hockey association has to do a "fair bit" of fundraising in order to keep fees as low as possible and also to support families who can't pay the fees but whose children want to play hockey. Mund said.

The Haney and Meadowridge Rotary clubs plan to organize the duck race again next year.

Bob Shantz was the "head duck in charge" of the Rotary Duck Race and he said the race went "very, very well." this year.

The challenge was getting the ducks to float down the centre of the river and that succeeded.

Shantz was pleased with the 8,800 ducks tickets that were sold and he hopes that next year all 10,000 will go.

But expanding it beyond 10,000 might be a challenge, he said.

While he was in charge of the organization aspect of the Rotary Duck Race this year, Shantz chalked up the success to the myriad of other volunteers who helped organize, for example, the event coordinators and the people working on the river, which included Peter Davies and the Maple Ridge fire department. Many of the volunteers helping out were not Rotarians, Shantz pointed out.

OTHER DUCK RACE WINNERS

Second-to sixth-place prizes:

. Second-prize winner: Alanna Wadhwani won a luxury cruise for two aboard Holland America Lines.

. Third-prize winner: Andrea Buckley won a household furniture and appliance package provided by Fuller Watson.

. Fourth-prize winner: Christine Goncalves won a weekend stay in Whistler and apparel gift certificate from Maple Ridge's Mark's Work Wearhouse.

. Fifth-prize winner: T. Thompson won two rounds of golf for four, including use of a golf cart at Meadow Gardens Golf Course.

. Sixth-prize winner: Brian Daniel-Scott won a 32-inch flat screen TV provided by Audio Video Unlimited at Haney Sewing & Sound.

mrantanen@mrtimes.com