“Three, two, one, GO!” is the countdown Walker Mack and Jacob Dwyer give at the beginning of each race that sends coins flying. On a Saturday night, with a sign-up table, stage light, and soft jazz music, they have accrued a crowd of almost fifty people ready to race. 

The Champlain Coin Racers is an underground club that is only affiliated with Champlain by name. The group seemed to pop up overnight, with flyers searching for those with a “need for speed” and an Instagram immediately grabbing the campus’ attention. 

 According to Dwyer and Mack, the group almost did start overnight. While walking back after using a vending machine late at night, they had a pocket of loose coins they began to throw. 

“We thought, ‘we should race these’, and then they went off into the darkness, and it was kind of a beautiful sight,” Walker Mack said during our interview. As he spoke, he passed a two Euro coin between his hands. “It was then that we decided we wanted to start something new.”

“There’s nothing like flinging coins for the first time,” Dwyer added.

Previously known as “High Five Guy,” due to posters put up around campus by his friends of him raising a hand, Jacob Dwyer can be seen on the flyers for the Coin Racers in the same pose, riding the momentum of the joke to gain attention for the racers. 

Dwyer credits this moment of popularity as part of the racers’ initial success.

“It’s so much easier to approach a person you know than a poster that says ‘come meet at 10 O’clock at night and throw coins,” he said.

According to Mack, the real allure of the Coin Racers is the mystery and community. 

“We’re very vague on our posters- and that’s on purpose.” Mack said. This mystery brings in a variety of people, all looking to figure out exactly what coin racing entails. “They’ll be like, ‘Is this a game? A social experiment? Is it art? Is it capitalist commentary?”

I found myself outside Finney Quad the following Saturday night, just as eager to find out. The night began with the founders giving a brief, if vague, explanation of the rules: check the year of your coin before you throw, and don’t cross the line. Mack and Dwyer performed a demo race- throwing their coins and then hunting for them with flashlights, finishing by declaring Mack the winner. 

As the night went on, the promenade filled with spectators, most of whom were just there to watch. However, the team running the event, which also included a person referred to as “Big Country” and Em Condron, kept spare change at the sign-in table to ensure everyone could race. Like most visitors, a coin was placed in my hand – a 1991 nickel- and I lined up to race. 

As I stood in line, my fellow racers gave me an assortment of tips on form and wrist movement. After the signature countdown, I tossed my coin with no particular flourish. I did not win the race, nor did I get my coin back- it was gone to the darkness. 

When the hour neared 11 P.M., the racers became antsy. Condron explained this to me.

“Eleven P.M. is quiet hours, so we all have to disband. So as soon as it hits, I’ll yell scatter.” She said.

Before scatter, there was a final free-for-all race. Anyone who wanted to throw any coin could. Presented were Ozzi tokens (the coins used in exchange for reusable containers on campus), dollar coins, and a Taiwanese Yuan. After years were checked, almost fifty coins flew for the final time that night.

Moments after Mack and Dwyer announced a winner, the crowd went silent, looking to Condron. As the second ticked over, she yelled, “SCATTER!” and we all ran in opposite directions, unsure exactly where we were going next.

When I asked Dwyer and Mack what the future of coin racing looked like, they were undecided. 

“It’s not a winter sport. It will not last forever,” Dwyer said. “It’s a flash in the pan- like a supernova.”

Mack and Dwyer recommend keeping an eye on the Instagram, @champlaincoinracers, for updates on future events, saying they may bring an end to the first season of racing soon.

“What we have here is a very Champlain community,” Mack said, beaming with pride.

Whether or not the Coin Racers continue further underground, pause for Winter, or blink out like the supernova they claim to be, they have brought a stir to the beginning of the year. As Mack said, it could be a social experiment; it could be art. But it succeeded at leaving its mark as a group that can bring together people from every grade and interest.