By ELIZABETH LITTLE/Sentinel staff
LINWOOD – Since 2003, Mainland Regional High School’s Latin students have been putting on their annual “chariot races.” And no, there are no real horses.
Instead, student teams of two choose one equus (horse) and one auriga (charioteer). The auriga stands in the chariot while the equus runs and pulls the chariot around Mainland’s track.
The chariots are crafted by the students. Latin teacher Sarah Mench offers her students extra credit for making a chariot at home. They are usually crafted out of (unused) hollowed out trash cans with wheels on the bottom and handles near the top, so the equus can hold on and sprint. There are some chariots made of different materials, like all wood or a plastic box attached to handles and wheels. All auriga are required to wear helmets.
The Mainland Latin tradition is 19 years strong, but last year the chariot races looked a little bit different. Mench said that in 2020, while Mainland was in the midst of remote learning, her Latin students created their own chariots and made a Flipgrid video. This allowed Mench to create a virtual chariot race.
“I’m just so happy we were able to do this in person this year,” Mench said.
Mench started teaching at Mainland in 1994, and created the annual chariot races in 2003. She said the races are a good way for the Latin students to get together and learn about ancient Rome through an interactive lens.
“It’s so much fun and all the Latin classes get to be together,” said Mench, who teaches four levels of Latin at Mainland.
The race is divided into four heats and four teams of two compete each heat. The teams are viridi (green), rusati (red), album (white), and caeruleum (blue).
For the first heat, some students warmed up with stretches. The race was only halfway around the track. (A full lap is about a quarter of a mile.)
The racers lined up with their chariots, and with the blow of Mench’s whistle, they were off. Heat one was dominated by Mainland senior Austin Padula (equus) and Nova Bansal (arigua).
“I play soccer, it was pretty easy,” Padula said.
“We actually played a sea shanty as we were running down the track,” Bansal said. “That was the secret to our success.”
Even students who chose not to race were not short on activities or jobs to do. Whether they were eating snacks and cheering on their friends in the race or holding the finish line or timer, the Latin students all had something to do.
“We start planning the chariot races in September so we all look forward to it when June comes,” said Madeline Rowe, a junior at Mainland.
The races didn’t go without a few hiccups; during heat two, one of Mainland’s most loved chariots broke, and during heat one, the chariot for the veredi team got a flat tire.
The broken chariot actually made an appearance outside the chariot races this year as well. For Mainland’s Spring 2021 musical, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” the homemade golden chariot got its 15 minutes of fame – it was used as a prop in multiple scenes.
Josh Darraugh, the year-four Latin student who starred as Joseph in the musical, and John Alice, who played Jacob, teamed up to use their favorite prop in the races, after popping the broken wheel back into the chariot.
Mainland junior Nico Salani was decked out in his ancient Roman battle-inspired helmet that he made himself out of a metal bowl, tin foil, cardboard and feathers.
“I made this freshman year and I still wear it,” Salani said.
In previous years, Mench invited seventh and eighth grade students from Northfield, Linwood, and Somers Point school districts to watch the races as a way to try to recruit more students to take Latin class at Mainland. This year, because the country is emerging from a pandemic, Mench decided to keep attendance just for her own students in addition to a few Mainland faculty observers. Nonetheless, students and staff were all smiles to finally be together outdoors, enjoying the warm June weather and ancient Roman culture.