Some see the glass half empty, some see the glass half full, very few see the same glass 100% full (50% water, 50% air) ????. The forecast for Saturday showed 90% chance of thunderstorms, which meant 10% chance of beautiful weather… And that it was! A bit warm, or perhaps the right amount of heat to fuel an exciting Battle field day.
8:00am – Teams setting up canopy tents while discussing strategies, veterans sharing tips & tricks with rookies, but our favorite part, teams networking with other teams, getting to know one other, and borrowing hula-hoops to practice “skin the snake”.
8:45am – We start calling teams for Obstacle Course. After awkwardly positioning exercise balls in places they’ve never been placed, three teams “blazed” through the entire course in under three minutes. Get the hint? Reynolds & Reynolds BLAZE came in 1st place with a blazing 2:36.53. LexisNexis took 2nd place with 2:51.00, which Montgomery Country Job & Family Services came in 3rd, less than one second behind LexisNexis, at 2:51.92.
10am – Wind Sprint Relay is next. Just like in the cartoons, some runners were so fast, you didn’t see them running, you just saw a cloud of dust. Referring to you, Reynolds & Reynolds Inferno. They took 1st place with an astonishing 48.83 (average of 12.2 seconds per runner per 100 yards). In other news, how can you win Tug-of-war and also be super-fast? I feel like it should be one or the other, not both. But somehow, superheroes Synchrony took 2nd place here with a very fast 52.27 seconds. Reynolds & Reynolds Blaze was less than one second behind at 53.26 seconds.
11am – Punt, Pass & Place Kick “kicks off”. New this year, teams were able to use a “mulligan” with a $10 donation to Special Olympics. A few teams asked if they can purchase 60 mulligans. ???? We saw these mulligans get put to good use (most of the time). One team literally went above and beyond, with every punt pass and place kick. This team was the only team with a total distance of over 600 feet, at 619 feet, average of 103 feet per person per punt/pass/kick. In 1st place, Oerlikon!!! Then, Reynolds & Reynolds Inferno took 2nd place with a total distance of 588 feet, while Aerotek came in 3rd place, one tiny foot more than WilmerHale, with a total distance of 577 feet.
12pm – CEO Water Balloon Toss. Hopefully everyone had a good time laughing at their boss while they get splashed, although I’m sure that water explosion felt really good on a warm day like Saturday. Fun aside, Oerlikon must have had a magic balloon, or magic fingers, as their balloon never popped, putting them in 1st place with 20 points. Maybe we should auction their balloon for battle bucks for next year? ???? Aerotek and Ellipse Solutions tied for 2nd place with 7.5 points. Everyone else who participated got 5 points.
12:30pm – Soccer Dribble also “kicks off”. Left, right, left again, right again, teams finding the right balance of going fast, yet not accidentally kicking the ball on the wrong side of a cone. Well, ask these three teams how they did it, because they rocked it! Reynolds Inferno came in 1st place at 2:16. Reynolds Blaze took 2nd place with 2:21. Eastway finished one second behind Reynolds Blaze, at 2:22. Although these teams had an amazing display of skills, lots of cheering from these teams and others was directed towards the Special Olympics team, who also had a great display of skills. We appreciate all of you cheering for our Special Olympics friends.
1:30pm – We figured a three-legged race would be too easy. Why would we add a leg, when we can take a leg out? Instead of a three-legged race, our last event is sack race. Hopping up and down (with the occasional dive and roll at the finish), the following three teams rocked (and rolled) it. ???? Wait for it…… It was the three Reynolds & Reynolds teams!!! Inferno in 1st place, Blaze in 2nd, and Ignite in 3rd!!! Way to leap into victory, Rey Rey!!! And same here, the Special Olympics team had an excellent sack race with lots of cheering from nearly every team.
Okay, show of hands, anyone else took a 20-minute power nap between field day and the awards party? How about an hour rubbing aloe on sun burns? Hey, be proud of those tan lines, they are your battle scars!
Alright, the moment you’ve all been waiting for… Overall results!!! In case you missed the party, or all the dancing made you forget the results we announced, let’s go over them more one time… Starting with our top story, Reynolds & Reynolds Inferno claims the title of 2018 grand champion, AND breaks the Battle record for with 1167 total team points, the most ever scored in Battle. Congratulations guys!
In division 1, Reynolds & Reynolds Blaze came in 1st place with 1054 points. Premier Health Blue came in 2nd with 920 points and LexisNexis in 3rd with 897 points.
In division 2, wait for it, Montgomery County Job & Family Services won 1st place, by one tiny little single point, with 875 points. Taylor Communications had 874 points (they won the Manufacturing/Retail category, see below). Cargill came in 2nd place in division 2 with 858 points, while Coldwell Banker took 3rd with 631. If you think one point was the closest battle we had this year, keep reading… ????
In division 3, Eastway had an amazing year, and was finally able to claim the division 3 championship title from WilmerHale, who has kept that title for 3 years (2015, 2016 & 2017). Eastway also took 3rd place overall, with 961 points. Way to go Eastway! Oerlikon came in 2nd place with 721 points, while Winsupply took 3rd with 623 points.
Here we go, division 4, the division that had board members rubbing their eyes, double and triple checking results over and over. The winner of this division claimed the title of division champion by HALF A POINT. That’s right, half! Aerotek came in 1st place with 833.5 points, while ATI & Microtek had 833 points, claiming 2nd place. American Cutting Edge took 3rd place with 811 points.
Category winners: Reynolds & Reynolds Ignite claimed the winner title for Computer Companies with 922 points. Synchrony came in 1st among Financial Institutions at 809 points. Kettering Police won the Government category with 714 points. CareSource came in 1st in Healthcare with 943 points. In Manufacturing/Retail, Taylor Communications claimed the title with 874 points. Finally, WilmerHale became the winner of the Professional Services category with 884 points. Will WilmerHale reclaim the division 3 title from Eastway next year? There’s one way to find out… Wait till 2019 or build a time-machine! ????
Rookie awards: Among new businesses that joined us for the first time in 2018, Clark Schaefer Hackett took 1st place with 796 points. Kettering Fire Department came in 2nd with 642 points. Greater Dayton Premier Management came in 3rd with 578 points. We loved having you guys and all new companies. We hope all of you will invite your friends at other Dayton-area businesses to consider joining us in supporting the Special Olympics in 2019.
Whether it’s to keep the title they won, or get their revenge and reclaim a title they had, we know many teams are counting days until the 2019 Battle of the Businesses. As the board of directors, we are just as excited as you are, and love seeing the healthy competition between our Dayton area businesses. As you all know, there’s more to Battle of the Businesses than the competition piece. While every team demonstrated great spirit during Battle week, three companies went above and beyond, taking the Spirit Award in 2018. They are Synchrony, Aerotek and Reynolds.
We love supporting the Special Olympics, along with all of you. This year, we announced at the after-party, that we raised over $68,000 for the Special Olympics of Greater Dayton (then the dancing started). With all of your fundraisers, contribution and support, we hope to raise even more next year. If you helped raise $1 for the Special Olympics this year, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. A special thank you to those companies that reached their division goal: Aerotek, American Cutting Edge, ATI & Microtek, Cargill, Oerlikon, Reynolds & Reynolds, Sogeti, Synchrony, Taylor Communications and Verso. We hope to see this list grow in 2019!
Alright, time to rest, catch up one week’s worth of sleep, think of fundraising ideas, and practice for next year. Only 355 days till the 2019 Battle of the Businesses, but who’s counting, right? ???? Well, it took me half a day to write this email, and it probably took you half a day to read it, so 354 days left now! ????
-Recap by Peter Qumsiyeh
