The Washington Nationals will hold their own presidential race on Sunday when they try out the new crop of Racing Presidents. If you thought this was your chance to put your medium-level running skills to good use you’re out of luck: The field of candidates has already been selected.
Aspiring Toms, Georges, Abes, and Teddys have been chosen from a field of applicants who submitted a cover letter, resume, and their tax returns (kidding!). On Sunday, they’ll further prove how presidential they are by donning the costume (which weighs about 30 pounds) and doing a dance, running a 40-yard dash, and racing their competition on the field of the Washington Nationals Youth Baseball Academy.
Don’t despair that you won’t run like a POTUS: As we reported in our oral history of the Racing Presidents last year, it can be kinda rough:
[former Racing President] Brian: The suits were very top-heavy. A lot of times, when you are running as a pack, you couldn’t … see your feet. Sometimes I would [accidentally] clip the person in front me and then I go down and then they go down. Accidents happened.
[costume designer Randy] Carfagno: [The] biggest shock was how physically filthy they were from falling so much. The dirt that was embedded in them literally changed their skin tone. So, when we redid them [in 2014] we had to use a darker skin tone so we could mask the dirt more easily.
Brian: By mid-season, they stunk. We all had our own air fresheners that we preferred.
Oh well. Surely there’s a Hamilton sing-along somewhere that’s still accepting applicants.
Lori McCue