Marvelous Miracles take home Viking Games trophy

No miracles needed as captain Darrel Wilmoth and the Marvelous Miracles claim the victory in Viking Games 8, leaving defending champion Bob Pecoraro and his team of Wisdom Warriors in third place.

As the battle cry rang out across the big sports field that formed the stage for this year's Viking Games at the Calvary Chapel Scandinavia conference near Stockholm, it was initially met with laughter. "No miracles needed!" screamed the seven members of the team named the Marvelous Miracles, with a confidence that initially did not seem to impress the five other rival teams in the minutes before the 8th edition of Viking Games kicked off.

But it would not be long before the competing teams, one by one, would begin to feel the superiority and determination of the Marvelous Miracles, led by team captain Darrel Wilmoth. As the six teams, all given names inspired by the second half of 1 Corinthians, competed in activities like beach volleyball, football, relays and various water balloon battles it quickly became clear that three teams stood out in the overall battle for the Viking Games trophy.

In the end captain Darrel Wilmoth and the Marvelous Miracles came out triumphant with more points than team Healer's Heat led by Simeon Fuchs, who finished second, and the defending champion Bob Pecoraro and his team Wisdom Warriors. In spite of winning the final captain's showdown contest, captain Bob could not prevent overall defeat. The Marvelous Miracles took home the trophy as Darrel Wilmoth collected his first ever Viking Games championship as captain.

"We certainly lived up to our team name more than our team battle cry, that's for sure. It was a really tough competition this year, so it may have been a miracle that we won the whole thing. But it was very exciting to hear our team name being called out when the winners were announced. It was fun. Viking Games is always fun," says Darrel Wilmoth, who - when he's not unleashing his inner viking - is the pastor of Calvary Front Range in Colorado, USA.

Trophy travels to Colorado
Viking Games 8 had another historic touch to it as it featured the first ever all-women's team, the Veils of Victory. In spite of putting up a valiant fight, the Veils of Victory came up just short in several competitions - and had the last inches and a little bit of luck been on their side their overall points tally would have been much higher.

In the end the trophy will now spend a year in Colorado with captain Darrel Wilmoth, who will return next year to defend the title.

The final scores in Viking Games 8:

141 points - Marvelous Miracles
123 points - Healer's Heat
113 points - Wisdom Warriors
85 points - Tongues of Thunder
40 points - Invincible Interpreters
40 points - Veils of Victory

The Viking Games is an annual tradition at the Calvary Chapel Scandinavia conferences, which started in 2008 and has since been staged each year. It's a fun way for conference participants to take a break from all the sitting down at teaching sessions and get to know new people (or new sides of familiar people) through competitive comradery.

Click on the fact box on the right to see all previous winners of Viking Games.

Click here or on the video below to see the Viking Games 8 film:


2015 Conference - Viking Games 8 from Calvary Chapel Scandinavia on Vimeo.


2015 Conference - Viking Games 8 (news report) from Calvary Chapel Scandinavia on Vimeo.