Last weekend was the first test....Edmonton.
Mom has never entered any type of race before and we both were unsure of this type of race. Would the clues be hard, would we figure out the bus system, could finish in time.
Some history on the race itself.
How it Works
Experience Laughter, Adventure and Discovery!
The Mitsubishi City Chase Powered by GoodLife Fitness is a unique urban adventure that requires participants to exhibit teamwork, resourcefulness, determination and the ability to make decisions on the fly as they search for ChasePoints scattered in unknown locations throughout the city. ChasePoints are designed to test teams with a variety of physical, intellectual, adventurous and humorous challenges.
To conquer this 4-6 hour urban event, 2-person teams will run, walk and use public transit to navigate their way throughout the city, while calling family and friends for help, accessing the Internet, and even employing assistance of total strangers. The first team to complete the required ChasePoints and cross the finish line WINS
Our goal was to finish the 10 checkpoints in the 6 hours and to have a fantastic time doing it.
We had done the fundraising for Right to Play which gave us an opportunity for a free chase point. After I drove to Edmonton, we went for dinner and picked up my new favorite socks (injinji) we were back to the room to get ready. City Chase had been feeding that a clue would be given out early and it was placed on Facebook. We spent some time filling out the crossword and unscrambling the letters the give us a clue. It was a lot of fun and really got us pumped up.
The next morning I woke at 6:30 am and had a feeling I should check FB. I noticed the profile picture had changed and quickly realized it was another free checkpoint. All about getting your Facebook team to like or comment a post. So onto the phone we went to get it going. Thanks to all our support, we had them very quickly.
Off for a bite to eat and then down to Sir Winston Chruchill Square for the start. Surrounded by over 900 other chasers we were taking it all in. We then played a game of mobster paper, rock, scissors. For someone who said how do you play, mom made it to the final 5 teams!
Then we were told the clue was at city hall and we were off.
A quick photo of the clue sheet and they were sent to our Garcia and my sister to look over. Then a quick read from ourselves. I have to say I felt a bit overwhelmed by the amount and how cryptic they were. Mom was confident in the first clue so off we went to the Edmonton Petroleum Club.
This is where I made the first mistake. Walking in the direction of our destination to get on a bus. Problem, very few buses that way. We should have moved back closer to Jasper where most of the buses travel. Oh well, with Ashley and Kelly we were able to get on a bus and completed our first task. To partner with another team to maneuver a car through an obstacle course.
With A LOT of help from Kelly we were able to finish the next chase point.....to match up head shots of Oilers with their jersey number while mom dressed lime a goalie to find the numbers.
Back on a bus to kinsmen park ( the clue from the crossword). Got a tip from the rider that we could take a separate trail instead of running down the big hill to the park. With a quick run we made it to the stairs, to find they went nowhere! A quick yell up to mom and some investigating turns out we were on the back of a par 3 course and very close. So we ran across the fairways to the chagrin of the actual players. Sorry, but as mom said...it's only a par three...not a REAL course.
We were excited for this chase point as we were going to act like soldiers in bootcamp AND get our free chase point for fundraising our money. 2 for 1. And we need it. By this time we only had 2 and we were already 2 hours in. A quick run through the course and some burpees, we weighed our shoes for Columbia hit our 2 punches and we were off to the bus stop with 4 now.
The next bus took us back downtown and only 2 blocks from our next point. One problem....we couldn't find it. Luckily Kelly sent us to another one and by walking a bit further we found the original point. Spin! Get two strangers to ride a spin bike for a total of 10 min. Tougher then it sounds but after mom convinced a guy who could hardly walk( very stoned and admitted it) and I convinced a guy drinking a beer we were off. Point 5.
Then to the hotel near by to carry luggage from the basement to the 12 th floor. Phew. We then were off to do a photo scavenger hunt. Take a picture of gardening, of 4 people all jumping at the same time, of one team member washing their hair in a bathroom sink!(me)
A quick hike to the parliament busing to do some back to back drawing. Point 8.
On our way downtown we came upon a chase point. How lucky we're we. So we had to unscramble some words and then write and perform an opera. Not our best performance but the point was ours!
Off to main street again. We were prepping ourselves for spiders as there was some cryptic 8 leg reference in the clue. Plus it was our last point so we would have done almost anything at this point. However once we got here we realized it was another photo scavenger hunt. Shoot. This was going to take some time and we would have to walk right by the finish line. Crummy
We rocked it out as fast as we could and hoofed it to the finish to complete out 10 in under 6 hours. Wow. We had so much fun. Could not wait for 2012!!
