LEWISTON – For the fifth year in a row, the Maine Elks Association Ritual Team won the Area I Interstate-Relations Ritual Roulette Championships held in Rhode Island on Sept. 18. The purpose of the contest was to promote excellence in the performance of the Elks initiation ritual and to foster better relations among the state Elks associations.

Five teams from across New England and New York competed in the event, which involves four of the lodges’ seven officers drawing for their ritual parts five minutes before their team competes. The four officers must memorize all four parts: exalted ruler, leading knight, loyal knight, and lecturing knight positions.

Once the four chair officers are determined, the team must perform before several judges, who evaluate them on impressiveness, pronunciation, word accuracy, deportment (movements) and appearance. Deductions are made for each mistake, starting with a perfect score of 100 points and working downward.

The team from Maine earned a score of 96.6706 points, beating out second place New York with a score of 94.8364.

Earning recognition as Area I champions were Exalted Ruler Jack Hill Jr., Biddeford-Saco; Leading Knight Bruce Brunelle, Sanford; Loyal Knight Rick Williams, Biddeford-Saco; Lecturing Knight Wayne Cotterly, Lewiston; Esquire Christine Cote, Sanford; Chaplain Andrew Bolz, Sanford; Inner Guard Robert Drisko, Augusta; candidate, Debbie Hamblen, Portland; and coaches, Harry Desjardins, Biddeford-Saco, Frank Ricker, Sanford, and Phil O’Brion, Farmington.

In addition to winning the overall team competition, several individual awards were earned as well.

These awards were presented to Debbie Hamblen, Robert Drisko, Andy Bolz, Christine Cote, Wayne Cotterly and Bruce Brunelle for achieving the highest scores in their respective chairs.