Rovio is sponsoring the “Course of the Force” relay race, which starts on July 7th in Santa Monica and ends on July 11th in San Diego. What is Course of the Force you ask? Well, it’s an Olympic-style relay race with — wait for it — lightsabers! It’s a charity event benefiting the Make-A-Wish Foundation where participants walk or run a 1/4 mile before passing the lightsaber off to the next participant (ideally not severing their hand in the process).
Thanks to an invite by Rovio I will be one of those participants! Even better, if you happen to be in Southern California between July 7th and 11th you might be able to participate too (note, you must be 18 years or older). If you’re interested in joining this awesome event email [email protected]. The Angry Birds team will be at the relay on Wednesday, July 11th, so if your down in San Diego they’re inviting you to stop by and say “Hi”! Rovio has more details on their blog post here.
BTW, Angry Birds and Star Wars have a bit of a past, though it’s nothing official. If you’ve never seen this awesome Angry Birds mashup I highly recommend you check it out.
Course of the Force Race Day Recap & Pictures
After boarding the Course of the Force shuttle in Long Beach, CA we headed down to PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) to join up with the racers making their way down from Redondo Beach. On board the Imperial Shuttle were Darth Vader, an AT-AT Walker (it took two guys to pull this off), Princess Leia, a full-blown Scout Trooper, and various other characters. It was a amazing group with some awesome costumes. Joining this cast of characters were were myself and my son, who was dressed as Boba Fett (since Rovio invited me I thought it was fitting to don my homemade “Angry Luke” shirt).
Our shuttle basically led the procession, which included cops, photographers, a couple huge Course of the Force RV’s, and Jabba the Hut’s Sail Barge. At designated intervals — every 1/4 to 1/2 mile or so — we would stop and another racer would jump out of the shuttle, grabbing the light saber from the previous runner.
My son and I were one of the last stops, so we were not far from the Huntington Beach pier. We had a great light saber battle for about a 1/4 mile of our leg. After that the summer heat got the better of him so I carried him the last 1/4 mile. Little Boba Fett is heavy! All-in-all it was a truly great time, benefiting a great cause.
I just wanted to personally thank the Rovio crew for inviting us to participate. I hope some of you took up them up their offer as well.
Course of the Force Teaser Video
Looks fun!
best mix up ever!
i love the video!
The video was great, and the course sounds like a great event for a great cause! Unfortunately, now that I’m back on the road, I’ll probably miss out on this.
Always knew ewoks were evil!
it’s a suprize to me
Your gonna be in the race? Cool, hope you win BL!
Awesome good luck BirdLeder!
I don’t know if you are aloud to promote a video, but here is a video I made a while back of all the Angry Birds Star Wars characters that I could find.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1Y0Ze5crPg&feature=plcp
Hope you like it! Thanks!
Not a problem at all, as long as it stays relevant.
Also, avoid double posting, one comment should be sufficient ;)
Ok, sorry for that. I saw you got mentioned by the Angry Birds team on Twitter. Lucky you. Thats how I found you. I am following you now. :)
This site always gets mentioned by @AngryBirds on Twitter. :)
Ooooh @birdleader, colour me green. I’m happy for you that Rovio has invited you to participate. You certainly deserve it. It’s also a wonderful charity. Do I assume correctly in that Rovio donates your registration fee and you represent them? Are you going to dress up – there are prizes :) Don’t forget your camera. I understand you not photographing your face but a shot of your arm holding the lightsaber would be good. Photos of the Angry Birds Team would also be good. Did the invite include tickets to Comic-Con? OK, enough questions lol. Have a great day you lucky person you.
I believe so, but I’m not 100% sure. I’m bringing my son with me, so we’ll see what type of costumes we wear. I got him a Boba Fett one. I wanted to be Jengo Fett, but couldn’t find a good costume in time.
Nope, didn’t receive an invite to Comic Con, though I wouldn’t turn one down. That said, my son would kill me if he didn’t get to go too, so maybe it’s for the best. :)
This is awesome! I live in the LA area so may try to show up for the start at Santa Monica Pier this weekend. I’m out of town next week, though, so will miss the Wednesday AB event in San Diego. :-(
That’s awesome!
Lightsabers!!!I’m geting the feeling that Rovio will release a web game for that.
The video is awesome. Good luck BirdLeader :)
Thanks @iamMighty!
Good luck Bird Leader and whoever else is doing it. May the force be with you ;).
hilarious! since my 2 best friends are star wars nerds, i was starting to hate star wars. but that was funny!
BL good luck for you and your family members in the relay. The video above is novel, well done and entertaining. The cause worth while. If I lived in the area loved to see all the AB and SW related items.
Most appreciated @wrw01!
@BL — Good Luck! and please be more careful with the light saber than the guy in the video — Which was great.
Don’t know if I can make start in SM, will look into it.
Thanks. That would be awesome. Email [email protected] if you’re interested!
Wow, what I would give to be you @BL… just kidding! Good luck on the race! :D
I was in Santa Monica yesturday for vacation!
Santa Monica?? For vacation?? What’s there besides the pier?
Visiting cousins
OK. I knew there had to be a reason. Having lived in the L.A. area most of my life, I know that when thinking of vacation spots, Santa Monica isn’t a place that readily comes to mind.
With apologies to any Santa Monica fans out there.
Great pictures you have there, Bird Leader.
Thanks BL (@birdleader) for the great pics. I hope you’ve now recovered from carrying Boba Fett – Bounty Hunter/warriors are always heavy – no matter how tall they are :) The “Angry Luke” shirt was a clever idea and looks professional in the photo. Glad you enjoyed it and thanks again for the pics/recap.