On Sunday, January 13, Speed Rack headed St. Louis for the first time ever and the first city of the 2013 leg of the Speed Rack 2012-2013 National Tour. Ladies from St. Louis, Louisville and Kansas City converged on 2720 Cherokee Performing Arts Center to battle it out for a spot in the judged portion of the competition.
Doors opened at 3pm to spectators eager to take in the competition. Our 170+ guests were treated to sponsors’ punches and cocktails, as well as beer and non-alcoholic offerings. Host Chris Patino hosted with style as always, as DJ Dan de Oliveira kept the crowd entertained as the ladies prepared to go to battle. Our competitors were supported by a strong group of barbacks including Ted Kilgore, Neyah White, USBG St. Louis President Justin Cardwell and others.
The impressive panel of judges included Bridget Albert, Doug Frost, Charles Joly and local industry insider Catherine Neville, owner of Feast magazine. The round began with the judges each calling out a drink for the girls to make. The contestants had to make the drinks as quickly – and as accurately – as possible. The judges then compared the girls’ drinks side by side and issued penalty seconds to the girls for any mistakes made. The
girl with the lowest time was declared the winner and moved on to the next round.
Six heated battles ensued, until we were down to an all-Kansas City final round withPaige Unger vs. Jenn Tosatto. Paige was able to pull out the win and will be representing
St.Louis/Kansas City in the finals in NYC in May.
A fun time was had by all, and most importantly, almost $4,000 was raised for breast cancer research, education and prevention.
