The crewmembers of the Suzuki Riverdogs team couldn’t keep their heads above water Saturday at the Waterfest’s canoe tug-of-war competition and lost a best-of-three final competition to a Rome High School team.

The students, who battled all comers after bringing down the Coosa River Basin Initiative team that had won four-in-a-row, were awarded gift certificates for local restaurants such as Harvest Moon Café and Sante Fe Cattle Co. steakhouse.

David Promis, program director for CRBI, said events such as the canoe tug-of-war make sense for Waterfest because it demonstrates our connection to water.

“We’re all attached to water in some ways,” Promis said. “And this is a very sports-influenced town. So you really just put the two together.”

Promis said there were 80 competitors, and he competed in four of the six matches for CRBI.

Watch video from the canoe tug-o-war and the kayak tug-o-war.

The Waterfest, in its eighth year, also featured other attractions such as a large aquarium tank from Bass Pro Shop and a rock-climbing wall.

Reptiles brought by Southeastern Reptile Rescue were one of its more popular attractions.

The group showed off favorite Georgia snakes in a lineup including the timber rattlesnake, pigmy rattlesnake and the copperhead.

Jason Clark, head of the rescue group, said they were at Waterfest to educate the public about the dangers of the cold-blooded animals and how they should be respected but not feared.

“We normally have the venomous and non-venomous snakes,” Clark said. “But we wanted to show off some of the venomous snakes to remind the public what they look like and to stay away from them in their yards.”

Clark also featured a large albino Burmese Python for curious children to pet. The rescue group recently took in the large snake after its owner had trouble handling its large size.

The group, which takes in nearly 50 snakes a year, hoped to educate Waterfest attendees with some information about the snakes and mostly let them know snakes won’t chase or attack unless provoked.

“Most bites occur when someone tries to hurt or kill the snake,” Clark said. “So we do education to help people understand the snakes better.”

Click here to see the snakes that were on display at WaterFest VIII.