Photo essay: 2023 T-Rex World Championships in US

Annual event began as a team-building activity for a pest control company in 2017

Racers in costume behind the starting gates for the championship race to begin during the T-Rex World Championship at Emerald Downs in Auburn, Washington. All photos: AP

More than 200 competitors took part in the event

Logan Domingo, left, practices a roar with other participants

The competitors came from several states in the US

Dionte Gilbert (#84) leaps across the finish line against Seth Hirschi during a heat

Eight-year-old Brody Huttenlocker, centre, waits in line as participants queue up to race

Sisters Melinda Sperry and Vicky Gindes prepare their costumes for the event

Seth Hirschi, left, and Dionte Gilbert, right, fall after diving over the finish line in the first round of heats

The annual event offers free entry to participants in costume

Racers line up to participate in the second set of heats during the "T-Rex World Championship Races" at Emerald Downs, Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023, in Auburn, Wash. (AP Photo / Lindsey Wasson)

Alex Jones during the heats

Competitors prepare to contest the championship race

Ocean Kim (#5) won the 100-yard dash with a time of nine seconds

Ocean Kim, centre, celebrates winning the race with second-place finisher Colton Winegar, second from right

Ocean Kim after winning the 2023 T-Rex World Championship

From left, Colton Winegar, winner Ocean Kim, and Seth Hirschi

More than 200 participants wearing inflatable Tyrannosaurus Rex costumes took part in the 2023 T-Rex World Championships at Emerald Downs in Auburn, Washington last weekend.

Ocean Kim of Kailua, Hawaii – who entered as Boto Rex – won the 100-yard (91.2m) dash in a finish that went down to the wire.

Kim won in nine seconds and bested Colton Winegar – Deno the Dino – of Boise, Idaho who finished second and Seth Hirschi – Rex Ray Machine – of Renton, Washington, who finished third.

The competitors came from US states including Hawaii, Texas, Ohio, Virginia, Louisiana, Oregon, California and Idaho.

But it wasn’t only grown-ups who got in on the action. Children were also able to participate – dressed up in their best inflatable T-Rex costumes for the event.

The annual event allows participants to take part free if in costume. For those who can’t attend in person, the championship is streamed online.

Emerald Downs shared a video of the race on their Instagram page. “There’s nothing like a good T-Rex race,” they wrote. The short video shows people racing down the track dressed in dinosaur costumes.

The T-Rex World Championships first started in 2017 as a pest control company’s team-building activity but has since expanded.

The actual Tyrannosaurus Rex roamed the planet between 65 million and 67 million years ago. A study published two years ago in the journal Science estimated that 20,000 T-Rex lived on Earth at any one time, and about 2.5 billion of them in total during the species' time on the planet.