PORT ANGELES — More than 22,000 rubber ducks are expected to take to the water of the Daishowa America mill canal today for the 13th annual Great Olympic Peninsula Duck Derby race.

As of late Saturday, Duck Derby officials were still tallying the number of ducks “adopted”‘ by area residents for the fund-raising event benefiting Olympic Memorial Hospital Foundation, Sequim Rotary Club’s community projects and the Forks-based Soroptimists International of the Olympic Rainforest.

And more ducks are expected to be added to the race today in the Daishowa canal, where an incoming tide is expected to propel the ducks along the waterway.

The first 50 ducks to cross the finish line will earn their “adopted” parents prizes.

“We have plenty of ducks so people can buy them at the race,” hospital foundation Executive Director Bruce Skinner, an event organizer, said Saturday.

Skinner said more than 20,500 ducks had been “adopted” and counted by midday Saturday, with more than 1,500 more remaining to be counted.

“This is by far a record,” Skinner said. “Last year was a record at 18,825.”

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