Chirping birds, budding flowers and sunny days are all signs that the gloom of winter has been chased away.
In Boulder, there's another sign as well: a wacky race over land and water, known to most simply as Kinetics.
More than 40 teams — each fielding a rigged-together sculpture that needed to float and travel over land — convened on Saturday at Boulder Reservoir for what's more formally dubbed the 28th annual 97.3 KBCO/Miller Lite Kinetic Sculpture Challenge.
Teams such as "The Flint-Stoners," "Pool Sharks" and "Barney Gone Bad" pushed their zany, man-powered creations into the water while thousands gathered to watch the race and listen to live music.
"It's just so much fun," said Marion Stemmer, who leaped from a plane and parachuted to the ground with a billowing American flag strung behind her — a feat that accompanied the pre-race rendition of the national anthem. "We do it every year."
"We love coming out here every year," said John Morse, one of the air cannon operators. "We were almost able to shoot a bowling ball all the way to the dam this morning."
Despite a rainy forecast, Saturday's crowd enjoyed warm, dry weather through most of the race. Recent years have seen increased attendance and participation in Kinetics. The morning's warm weather may have also made racing more enjoyable for the participants.
"I just couldn't believe how good the weather was," said Ted Parks, whose creation, "Kinetosaurus," was the second craft to cross the finish line after more than an hour of racing.
Parks' one-man rig consisted of a bicycle-powered propulsion system, twomovable pontoons and a sculpture of a fossilized dinosaur.
"I was coughing up a lung," he said. "But in the mud, this stuff wouldn't have worked at all."
Although there were a few photo-finishes, one team blew past the rest from the start and never looked back. Team "Shaargk!" grabbed its fifth consecutive win, finishing well ahead of the rest of the pack.
"It wasn't very close," said Jonathan Sterner, "Shaargk!" team captain.
Race spectators could spot "Shaargk!" from all sides of the reservoir throughout the competition. Piloted by two team members clad in pirate garb, the huge, 15-foot gray shark raised on top of two metal pontoons shot through the water as cheers of "Shaargk!" circled the reservoir. "They're hard to beat," Parks said of team "Shaargk!" "I'll make some changes, and get them next year."