Gwinnett Daily Post

Staff Photo: Brendan Sullivan Attendees of the Bed Races cheer on their favorite teams as participants race around the Gwinnett's Historic Courthouse in Lawrenceville Saturday.

LAWRENCEVILLE -- Batman versus Moses. That's exactly what happened at the fourth-annual Gwinnett Bed Race around Lawrenceville's historic courthouse Saturday.

Raising awareness of homelessness, the event is put on by Family Promise of Gwinnett County, which partners with social service agencies to end homelessness.

"We have zero homeless shelters in the county," said race organizer Tom Cioffi. "This event is a silly way to address a serious issue."

The race, held in conjunction with the Spring Green Festival, featured two divisions (adult and youth).

All beds ran two heats around the square, one in each lane, with the top four overall times in each division advancing in the championship round. The top two times raced for the title, while the next two raced for third-place in a winner-take-all race.

Those heats are where Batman and Moses faced each other, with Moses winning both races. However, both teams were in different divisions and advanced.

In the youth division, two teams easily outdistanced the rest of the crowd, with the Young Guns (64.41 seconds) and Shamrock Mobile (76.25). Blazing Speed and the Dark Knight Rises finished with the next fastest times to advance to the third-place race.

The adult division featured two fast runs between the Holy Rollers (64.19) and Bed of Moses (64.31). Greased Lightning and Bedder than the Rest took the next two spots to advance to the third-place race.

In the final races of the day, Blazing Speed and Greased Lightning won the third-place races, easily outdistancing their competition.

In the youth final, the Young Guns ran away from Shamrock Mobile to take the title.

Then, in the adult finals, the Holy Rollers (last year's winners) and Bed Moses ran an epic race with the latter winning by two feet to unseat the defending champs.

"It was a great race," said Bed of Moses member Alex Paucar. "We just wanted to give 100 percent all the way to the finish. Regardless of what the outcome was, this was for a good cause."

Other awards handed out included the most original, which was given to Stiff Competition, a team with a wooden casket on its bed. The funniest was the Holy Rollers, which wore choir robes and wigs prior to the race to get people's attention.

Greased Lightning took home the people's choice award, as the bed was replicated to look like the car from the movie Grease, while the racers were dressed up like the T-Birds. Female supporters of the team also dressed up as the Pink Ladies to give them a full cast of characters.

"We just wanted to do our part helping out with Family Promise," said team member Kevin Hill, who played the part of Kenickie. "Our church volunteers with the organization and it's a great group to get involved with."

Raising money was also a big part of the event as the Dark Knight Rises was the top fundraisers for the youth, and Pigs in a Blanket were tops for the adults, raising more than $10,000 for Family Promise.

"This was a great event where the entire community came together to support this organization," Cioffi said. "You can't ask for much more than that."