So, can you line your cart up from 50 feet away from the little cart return thingy, give it a push, and land it safely in? If you move in to 15 feet or so, can you get a cart to nest into the one you push it into? If you get a good run going and hop aboard, how far can you glide? If you had to move a cart 50 yards as fast as possible, would you just run behnd it as fast as you could, or would you use a run-glide combination? How about if we made it a mile? And how about if we made it a really hilly course ... would you hop aboard going down a steep but somewhat bumpy hill? And what if you had a curve to negotiate? How far could you throw a shopping cart? What would your technique be -- a discus-style spin or something else?

The possibilities seem almost limitless.
-- wesweswes, Jun 10 2002

For wes^3 http://www.halfbake...k_20Reform_20Course
It's like, you know? okay? [RayfordSteele, Jun 10 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]

Poster for a shopping cart race http://www.skullska...com/scr/poster.html
[phoenix, Jun 10 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]

Shopping Cart Race 1998 http://jim.rees.org...ture/cart-race.html
[phoenix, Jun 10 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]

I _knew_ there was a reason I engaged in these activities, wes^3. I was in training.
-- RayfordSteele, Jun 10 2002


Not only can I do those things, but I've put 6 shopping carts/trolleys/trundles in trees.
-- thumbwax, Jun 10 2002


as sort of hanging baskets?
-- po, Jun 10 2002


Why does [wesweswes] need the Upspeak Reform Course? He is asking questions. Upspeak is when your non-questions sound like questions.
-- pottedstu, Jun 10 2002


// If you had to move a cart 50 yards as fast as possible, would you just run behnd it as fast as you could, or would you use a run-glide cmbination? //

Definitely, run it all the way. Any gliding will cause some amount of deceleration.

4-man relay race, with a full cart...
-- waugsqueke, Jun 10 2002


In the gymnastics floor exercise, you could start with four cartwheels.
-- FarmerJohn, Jun 10 2002


Makes as much sense as most of the Winter Olymics.
-- phoenix, Jun 10 2002


Some other possible events, based on several years' experience as a grocery store clerk and cart-collector:

1. How many carts can you push at once?

2. Obstacle course while pushing ten carts.

3. Disentangling two hopelessly tangled carts without amputating your finger.

4. Diving at the last second to keep a cart from hitting a customer's car, a la Volkswagen TV ad (North America).

5. Spotting stray carts from great distances.

6. Most efficient and/or aesthetically pleasing use of foyer floorspace devoted to storing carts.

7. Maintaining cart levels, or even achieving continual net gains in carts available to customers, on the last Saturday before Christmas.
-- earl, Jun 10 2002


Good point, Phoenix. The summer games are deficient in "junksports," and shopping is about as international an activity as you'll ever find.

Waugsqueke, I'd definitely run behind the cart on a level surface or going uphill, at least over a short distance. Downhill, I'd want to let the wheels do the work. The longer races would pose the interesting strategy decisions. Sure, you can sprint faster than you can glide, but let's say you're parked in the furthest spot away from a large mall. You can't sprint that far (well, okay, maybe you can, but I sure as heck can't). If you run your cart the whole way at whatever pace you can sustain, and I alternately sprint and glide, who gets there first? This is an important question, and the world needs to know the answer.
-- wesweswes, Jun 10 2002


I was presuming a level track. Downhill, I'd run it and then hop in, bobsleigh style, and use my weight as an advantage.

There's grocery tossing into a moving cart.
-- waugsqueke, Jun 10 2002


... with distance, speed and size of object tossed factored in to score.
Hook shots and hacky-sack kicks get extra points.
Will there be French Judges?

//as sort of hanging baskets?//
I wedged the carts into the trees firmly to prevent catastrophes to innocent shoppers. These rituals were carried out shortly after bars closed.
-- thumbwax, Jun 11 2002


Will the *athletes* be allowed to use some sort of weight (cases of cola, perhaps?) in the front of the trolley to reduce the likelihood of the trolley tipping backwards?
-- mighty_cheese, Jun 11 2002



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