More than 2,000 D.C.-area real estate professionals packed into American University Thursday for a day of athletic competition for a good cause.
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The 28th JDRF Real Estate Games raised a record $525K for Type 1 diabetes research, beating last year's total of $520K.
Awards were handed out to those who helped put the games together. Grosvenor Americas' Zac Linsky won the Steve Lauble award for his work as logistics chair. Cushman & Wakefield's Summer Newman won the Pete Wysocki Award for her work as volunteer chair. Bozzuto's Manny Egoegonwa won the Sherry Cushman award for co-chairing the games for the second year in a row, alongside Savills Studley's Sarah Dreyer.
JBG's Jill Goubeaux served as the honorary chair for the second straight year. Goubeaux, Egoegonwa and Dreyer became the first two-year leadership team in the games' history to raise over $1M for Type 1 diabetes. As she handed the torch to Brookfield's Dave Bevirt, who will serve as next year's honorary chair, Goubeaux offered a challenge to her successor.
"Can you beat it?" she asked him.
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From 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., teams of real estate companies competed in a series of athletic competitions that required strength, speed, precision and a sense of humor.
The points were tallied and Clark Construction won first place for the 10th consecutive year. Savills Studley came in second and Turner Construction placed third. In the final event, a tug-of-war tournament, Clark defeated last year's tug-of-war winner, HITT Contracting.
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Teams competed in some unconventional contests, like racing backward in a chair around the school's outdoor track. Teams of four competed in a relay with each person pushing themselves around a quarter of the track before handing off the chair.
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Speaking of unconventional, competitors in the outdoor relay race wore a viking helmet and poncho. They had to run through uphill tires before tiptoeing across a balance beam while dodging water balloons, crossing a few more obstacles before ultimately coming back down the hill by way of a slip and slide.
Players also competed in some traditional sporting events like basketball, volleyball, wrestling, tennis, golf and swimming. A tournament of half-court, 3-on-3 basketball games occupied one of the courts in Bender Arena for half of the day, before the court was changed to volleyball.
While younger professionals made up most of the teams, company executives competed in the head of office relay before a crowd of their employees.
The office heads had to put on a tutu and construction gear before drilling a screw into a piece of wood and finished by sliding across the gym headfirst on a four-wheeled cart. Clark Construction's Jim Calvo won the race.
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The real estate teams spent the day trying to beat their competition, but the games' founder, Savills Studley's Adam Singer, emphasized that everyone is coming together to help people battling diabetes. He added a new installation at this year's event: a series of signs showing local children who have been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
"We wanted to remind everyone why we're here," Singer said.
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