Author Topic: Racing report, China Rush 2010, leg 6  (Read 3596 times)

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Offline maf

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Racing report, China Rush 2010, leg 6
« on: September 30, 2010, 03:01:21 PM »
Racing report
Amazing Race China Rush
Season 1, Episode 6

I have tried to estimate distances and driving times every now and then. This data, from Google, is an approximation at best and the driving times assumes no traffic.

It seems like teams are leaving from the Beijing South railway station rather than from the wall where the last pit stop was. Teams leave in the following order:
  1. Rick & Josh           - 09:16
  2. Sean & Amy         - 09:24 (+0:08)
  3. Sarah & Molly       - 09:28 (+0:12)
  4. Charlie & Rachel    - 09:33 (+0:17)
  5. Lisa & Karen         - 09:38 (+0:22)
  6. Deepak & Naresh  - 09:43 (+0:27)

There is no way these times can represent the real time interval between racers at the last pit stop. Rick & Josh left the stadium before Lisa & Karen even arrived, and the latter spent 2.5h looking for the medal. The time intervals are also suspiciously similar. It looks like teams were released once every 5 minutes except the first team which got an 8 minutes lead.

The clue reads "Travel by train to Taishan". All teams end up on the same train D31 leaving at 11.05 with arrival at 14:33 (568km). Once teams arrive in Taishan there is a mad dash to the taxis and then on to the next clue which can be found in the Dai temple (2km 0:03). Teams reach this clue in the following order:
  1. Charlie & Rachel
  2. Rick & Josh
  3. Lisa & Karen
  4. Sarah & Molly
  5. Sean & Amy
  6. Deepak & Naresh

The clue reads: "Make you way to Tianwaicun square to find your next clue". This is reached by taxi (7km 0:14) and teams reach this clue in the following order:
  1. Sarah & Molly
  2. Sean & Amy
  3. Charlie & Rachel, got stuck in traffic
  4. Rick & Josh, who finally lost their football:-)
  5. Lisa & Karen
  6. Deepak & Naresh

Roadblock: "Who is the best dam climber". In this roadblock one team member must climb the Dragon reservoir dam. Which is about 500m away. The task seems to require a lot of arm strength.

Teams complete the roadblock in the following order (* denotes who performed the road block, and the numbers how many roadblocks they have done in total):
  1. Sean* & Amy          (3 - 3)
  2. Charlie* & Rachel    (3 - 3)
  3. Sarah* & Molly       (3 - 3)
  4. Rick* & Josh           (3 - 3)
  5. Lisa* & Karen         (3 - 3)
  6. Deepak & Naresh*  (3 - 3)

From the footage here we see that some contestant gets a backpack with a camera on a small boom while others just got a small helmet mounted camera. I wonder what the weight difference was...

Choice quotes:
 "I can't", Sarah is close to panic while stuck on the wall
 "You are doing great", Molly is encouraging
 "*beep* *beep*", Sarah when she finally reaches the top
 "My hands, there's no strength left", Deepak after completing the roadblock

The next clue reads: "Travel by taxi to Fengshan Dadian on Taifo road. There you will find your next clue" (18km 0:32). Teams reach this clue in the following order:
  1. Sean & Amy
  2. Sarah & Molly
  3. Charlie & Rachel
  4. Lisa & Karen
  5. Deepak & Naresh
  6. Rick & Josh

This clue reads: "Travel by foot along the marked path to the stage area. Climb to the top of the stage using the center aisle. Once you reach the top bow to the empress to receive your next clue". As usual there is also a lot of extra information we do not get to see. Once the teams have bowed to the empress they get their next clue which reads: "Travel by taxi to the marked stone shop near Tien Wai Chen square and search the steps outside of it for a stone table with the characters for 'China Rush' inscribed on it. Once you find the correct stone table take it to the front desk of the shop to receive your next clue".


Teams reach this stone shop in the following order:
  1. Sarah & Molly
  2. Sean & Amy
  3. Lisa & Karen
  4. Deepak & Naresh
  5. Rick & Josh
  6. Charlie & Rachel

As teams reach the shop they realize that there are LOTS of stone tables outside. So finding one of the China Rush table will not be easy. Eventually teams find a stone tablet in the following order:
  1. Deepak & Naresh
  2. Sarah & Molly
  3. Sean & Amy
  4. Rick & Josh
  5. Charlie & Rachel
  6. Lisa & Karen, with some local help

Choice quotes:
 "This is actually kind of difficult", Sarah stating the obvious
 "Anybody getting flashbacks to the stadium", Sarah again
 "Put it back and find a small one", Rick on finding out that they have to carry it
 "That's it, we are done", Lisa or Karen spreads doom and gloom after all others have left

The next clue reads something like: "You found it, now you have to carry it. Transport your China Rush stone tablet by a cable car to the top of Taishan mountain. Place it onto the clue box where you will get your next clue. If you loose or break your stone you have to go back to the shop to find a new one and bring it to the clue box".

To get to the cable car teams must first travel by taxi and then by shuttle bus. The first shuttle bus to depart carries every team except Lisa and Karen. Despite Amy's attempts to get the bus to leave as soon as they got on board.

Once teams reach the cable car they find it closed for the day (at 17:00). It will open again 09:00 the next day. Next day we get to see all the teams board the shuttle bus to the mountain. Amy blatantly cuts the line (she really knows how to make enemies). Once they get to the cable car they end up in a long line. Which surprised me, why did they not make sure to arrive early to be first in line? I smell a production issue.

This mountain is obviously a popular destination in China because the whole mountain is completely swamped with Chinese tourists.

Teams depart on the cable car in the following order:
  1. Sarah & Molly + Lisa & Karen
  2. Charlie & Rachel + Rick & Josh
  3. Deepak & Naresh + Sean & Amy

At the top there is some walking to the clue box, which teams reach in the following order:
  1. Charlie & Rachel
  2. Rick & Josh
  3. Sarah & Molly
  4. Lisa & Karen
  5. Sean & Amy
  6. Deepak & Naresh

Detour: Trees or Keys

Trees: teams must walk down a significant length of stairs to pick up a small tree. They must the carry this tree back up again to a temple nearby where they must dig a hole and plant it. According to Sean & Amy the distance was approximately one mile.

Keys: Teams must find which one of thousands of padlocks a given key fits. This is a return of the roadblock from TAR 6. But it seems the teams get a much more distinct key this time because the quickly realize that they just have to look for silver padlocks, and there are not many of those.

The clue said that teams could leave their bags when picking up the tree, but that teams must pick them up themselves later. So a number of teams drop their bags on the stairs, but not all teams pick them up when they pass with their tree on the way back.

Sarah & Molly are the first team to pick up a tree, closely behind them is Sean & Amy who seem to miss the tree completely and continue on down the stairs.

Teams complete the roadblock in the following order:
  1. Rick & Josh (Trees), but have to go back for their bags
  2. Charlie & Rachel (Keys)
  3. Sean & Amy (Trees), but have to go back for their bags
  4. Sarah & Molly (Trees)
  5. Deepak & Naresh (Keys)
  6. Lisa & Karen (Trees), arrives at the tree planting site after all other teams have left

Choice quotes:
 "*Labored breathing*", all teams doing trees
 "There were a lot of steps going up and down" Sean summarizes the day
 "There was 10.000 locks there", Naresh
 "You are doing amazingly, it's nearly there", Sarah encourages Molly

Teams may now head to the pit stop at the Jade emperors peak. The highest lookout point at Tai'an (over 1500m).

Both Rick & Josh and Sean & Amy had to go back to get their bags, but while Rick & Josh jogged most of the way Sean & Amy walked. The latter felt secure since Lisa & Karen was way behind in the task.

Teams reach the pitstop in the following order:
  1. Charlie & Rachel, win a trip to three mountains in China
  2. Sarah & Molly
  3. Deepak & Naresh
  4. Lisa & Karen
  5. Rick & Josh
  6. Sean & Amy, are eliminated

According to the behind the scenes film Sean & Amy reached the pitstop a little before noon.

Next week there will be scuba diving and carrying of beer kegs.

Edited to correct roadblock statistics
« Last Edit: October 15, 2010, 09:45:36 AM by maf »