The Washington Nationals celebrated Presidents Day weekend by holding their annual racing president auditions Saturday at Nationals Park.
The team drew a record number of applicants from the DC area, and invited a select group to the ball park to run the bases and show off their entertainment skills.
The recent record snowfall provided a hitch for this year’s applicants, as they were asked to run the full length of the presidents race in snow that reached 2 feet deep at the finish line. The conditions posed problems for more than a few racers who needed help up after falling in the snow.
For the fourth consecutive year, Teddy Roosevelt was absent from the auditions. Applicants donned the 12-foot costumes of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abe Lincoln, as they ran an indoor 40-yard dash, competed against each other on the snow-covered presidents race course, demonstrated their dancing and celebrating skills, and faced individual interviews with the entertainment staff.
We enjoyed meeting so many of the applicants as part of our first-ever video interviews (one of whom details his experience on his personal blog.
Update: Contestant Gwen Purdom details her experience in Washingtonian Magazine.
Audition photos by Ethan Ableman
LET TEDDY WIN 