Maine’s International Great Crate Race is the Ultimate Fun Run

If you can't navigate the crates bobbing in the water, watching others fall in the drink (or not!) is a fun way to spend a Sunday.

The International Great Crate Race is Held Each Year at the Maine Lobster Festival

I remember the first time I saw the International Great Crate Race, which happens every year at the Maine Lobster Festival.

At first, it seems pretty easy.

READ MORE: 6 Things You'll Want to Know Before Heading to the Maine Lobster Festival

Run across a line of 50 crates filled with seaweed (to make them float), lashed together, and strung between two floating docks.

But then you see someone do it and you know. It's nowhere near as easy as it initially looks.

The crates get slippery when they're wet, and they move up and down in the water while tipping from side to side.

Maine's Great Crate Race Contestants Either Make It Across or Swim

A video from the 2025 competition shows many who failed and, at least one, who made it across once. The return trip was not so successful.

Then there's the young man in the red knee socks who rocked it.

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Children seem to have better luck, probably because they're fast, light, and still have perfect balance.

Everyone can sign up for a fee of $15 for contestants 12 and over, and $10 for anyone under 12.

International Great Crate Race is One Highlight of the Maine Lobster Festival

The International Great Crate Race will be held on Sunday, August 2, at 2 pm at the Maine Lobster Festival in Rockland.

Check out the schedule of events for all the activities at the celebration of Maine's favorite crustacean that starts on Wednesday and runs through Sunday.

As for how the race was invented?

It started in the 1970s with Diane and William Atwood in Spruce Head, Maine.

Diane noticed a line of crates in the water and wondered how many they could run across.

The rest, as they say, is history.