The Barriere Outdoor Club’s first ever Amazing Race was a resounding success.
Forty two-person teams competed in nine adrenaline-pumping, skill-testing Canadian-themed challenges at the Barriere Forks Trails on Saturday, Sept. 15.
Organizer Louise Lodge has planned similar games overseas when she worked as an athletic activities director.
In Egypt, she said she had 800 participants.
The best part about bringing the race to Barriere was “the enthusiasm from all the participants,” she said.
Up until last week, only about 10 teams had signed up. The other 30 came pouring in last-minute but Lodge and her team of about 15 volunteers accommodated everybody who wanted to participate.
“It was great. I think as long as people have fun and there’s smiles on people’s faces, I mean, does it really matter if you win or lose or what not?” said Lodge.
“That’s what it’s about, bringing the community together, you know. People always say there’s nothing to do in this town, you know, so you try and do things.”
Franz Friesinger, chair of the Outdoor Club, said they were happy to support the Amazing Race.
“I think it’s excellent,” he said. “For our first time, it turned out really good and hopefully next year we’re going to have even more participants.”
Friesinger said it was especially nice to see kids and families getting involved.
Mary MacLennan, who participated and volunteered, said the event went really well.
“I can’t say enough about Louise and all her determination … we got a lot of good feedback from the participants, as well.”
Her favourite part of the face was the Quebec station, where they had to paint by numbers, but all the numbers and colours were in French.
“You had to paint within the lines, too,” she laughed.
MacLennan presented Lodge with a bottle of wine during the awards ceremony, to express gratitude for all of her work.
Jessica Thompson, another racer, said the highlight, for her, was the anticipation heading into each challenge.
“It was kind of fun just seeing the family members coming out and doing it with the kids,” she added.
The most challenging part for her team was the station where they had to dig a key out of a haystack to open a lock.
She said only a couple of teams were able to complete that challenge, most had to take a five-minute penalty.
