By BETHANY BLITZ

Staff Writer

POST FALLS — Cheers and excitement echoed off the walls of the Post Falls Armory on Sunday afternoon as local Cub Scouts raced their hand-made derby cars.

Over 25 cars were entered in the annual Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby, all different shapes, sizes and colors. One car was decorated like Pikachu, another was Donald Trump-themed and others were painted with racing stripes.

Different cars got different awards for best patriotic themed, best superhero/movie themed and best sports themed.

Cub Scout Pack 3, with members mainly from Ramsey Magnet School of Science, hosted the event and Boy Scouts from local Troop 202 showed up to help run the event.

“Every year it gets bigger and bigger,” said Jason Charland, the assistant scoutmaster for Troop 202. “Family members, moms, dads and grandparents all show up to watch their kids race.”

Each Cub Scout was given a block of wood and some parameters: their car could not weigh more than 5 ounces, all four wheels had to touch the ground and the car had to be within certain dimensions.

Scouts could carve the wood however they saw fit. They could hollow it out, add weights or even carve their car until it was pencil thin if they wanted.

There was also a chance for parents or siblings to make their own cars and race them, too. Charland raced his car that he made 30 years ago when he was a Cub Scout.

“It’s pretty cool,” he said. “We have another car racing that’s 40 years old.”

At the race, scouts lined the race track, eagerly watching cars whiz by as their parents watched from behind.

Each car raced three times and the average of all three races made up the car’s final score.

The four fastest cars will move on to the district competition where they will compete against Cub Scout troops from Post Falls, Hayden and Coeur d’Alene.

The overall first-place winner was Waylon Hinderager. Mark Holocek finished second, Owen Person took third and Xander Hielman came in fourth.

Hinderager said the hardest part of building his Pittsburgh Steelers-themed car was painting it (even though he also won the prize for best sports-themed car).

Hinderager said this is his first year in Cub Scouts and he loves it.

“We get to build stuff like boats and cars and we get to go on adventures and find stuff,” the 8-year-old said.

“His dad helped him with it,” Hinderager’s mom, Katie, chimed in. “It was a fun building experience for them.”