Randy Holliday, winner of the Great Kitsap Duck Race, opted for the $16,000 cash prize Aug. 2 at Lobe Fields before the Kitsap Bluejackets game rather than the Nissan truck donated by Advantage Nissan.

“I just bought a truck,” Holliday said. “If not, I probably would have taken it. It is a nice truck.”

Holliday said his old neighbor and Silverdale Rotarian, Ken Burdette, called him to let him know he had won, but Holliday was doubtful.

“I thought he was playing a practical joke on me,” Holliday said. “I told him, ‘That’s not funny.'”

Burdette was not joking, however, and Holliday was given his choice of a brand-new truck or $16,000 cash.

“I spent $20 on my ducks this year,” he said. “Not too bad.”

Holliday, a Puget Sound Naval Shipyard employee, then stood on the pitchers mound with his son Aaron to receive his prize and congratulations before throwing a perfect pitch over the plate for the ceremonial “first pitch.”

As for his plans for the money, he said he would “give the money to my lovely wife Melinda. We might take a trip to Monterey California to watch my nephew play baseball. The rest will go to help for college.”