Author Topic: Racing report, China Rush 2010, leg 7  (Read 3960 times)

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Offline maf

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Racing report, China Rush 2010, leg 7
« on: October 01, 2010, 08:39:32 AM »
Racing report
Amazing Race China Rush
Season 1, Episode 7

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.

Teams reached the mobile pitstop at the end of the Tai'an leg. They were then transported by train to Qingdao (372km). Here they leave from the Xinhashan park, where the rain pours down, in the following order:
  1. Charlie & Rachel     - 14:27
  2. Sarah & Molly        - 14:30 (+0:03)
  3. Deepak & Naresh  - 14:34 (+0:07)
  4. Lisa & Karen         - 14:36 (+0:09)
  5. Rick & Josh           - 14:38 (+0:11)

The first clue reads: "Make your way to Polar Ocean World. Here outside the main building you will find your next clue." (13km 0:23). It turns out to be not entirely easy to get there. First teams have to find their way out of the park then they have to get the taxi driver to understand where they want to go. All teams but Sarah & Molly went to Underwater world first, where they learned the Chinese name of the placed the wanted.

Sarah & Molly already had a map with the exact Chinese name on, but they compensated by having trouble finding their way out of the park.

Teams reach the clue box at Polar Ocean World in the following order:
  1. Deepak & Naresh
  2. Charlie & Rachel
  3. Lisa & Karen?
  4. Rick & Josh
  5. Sarah & Molly

The clue reads: "Make your way to the food preparation area. Here, you will be required to prepare 20kg of fish." Once teams have done that they must take 1kg up to the performance area and feed the whale fish to receive their next clue.

Teams complete this challenge in the following order:
  1. Charlie & Rachel
  2. Rick & Josh
  3. Lisa & Karen
  4. Deepak & Naresh
  5. Sarah & Molly

Choice quotes:
 "It was just chaos", Sarah describes the fish gutting room where all teams were working
 "I was doing fine for a while... then the gag reflex came into play", Karen is a vegetarian
 "Getting to feed the 'wh-olphins' or the 'd-hales' was a great reward for having to be covered in fish guts", Rachel preferred the second half of the task
 "Awww, he's so cute", Josh getting mushy while feeding fish
 "We have some serious catching up to do", Sarah after completing the task in last place

Teams must now make their way to the glass observation tunnel in the aquarium where they will get their next clue. By this stage in the race all amateur teams have been weeded out so no teams get lost and they reach the clue box in the same order they completed the previous task.

Roadblock: "Who is ready to get tanked". In this roadblock one person must suit up in scuba gear and dive in one of the aquarium tanks. Hidden in this tank are glass tiles, each with a red tile on it. After having found all 7 letters contestants will have to figure out that they spell the word 'Abalone'.

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. Charlie* & Rachel    (4 - 3), flew through this road block
  2. Rick* & Josh           (4 - 3), had some trouble with the word
  3. Lisa* & Karen         (4 - 3)
  4. Sarah & Molly*       (3 - 4)
  5. Deepak & Naresh*  (3 - 4), had problems diving and got stumped on the word so they left long after all the others

The letters were fairly easy to spot. Charlie, Rick and Lisa where all experienced divers while Deepak and Molly had had no experience. Consequently we see that the latter two were accompanied by a safety diver at all times.

The clue reads: "Travel by taxi to Badaguang scenic area and search No. 2 bathing beach for your next clue" (13km 0:29).

Teams reach the clue at the beach in the following order:
  1. Charlie & Rachel
  2. Rick & Josh, arrives a second before #3
  3. Lisa & Karen
  4. Sarah & Molly
  5. Deepak & Naresh

Detour: "Carried metal or buried metal"

Buried metal: Teams must make their was to old stone man beach (15km 0:25) where they will use metal detectors to locate a compass buried in the sand.

Carried metal: Teams must make their way to Beer street (5km 0:13). Here each team must alternate as they carry 6 full kegs of beer from one end of the street to the other (400m).

It was 16km between the detours and it would take approximately 25minutes by taxi.

Teams complete the detour in the following order:
  1. Rick & Josh (carried)
  2. Charlie & Rachel (buried), found it just before #3
  3. Sarah & Molly (started carried, switched to buried)
And it was dark when these teams started the carrying detour for the last time
  4. Deepak & Naresh (started buried but switched to carried)
  5. Lisa & Karen (started carried, switched to buried and then switched back again)

The kegs were very heavy (~50kg) and a lot of contestants had serious problems carrying them. In addition Lisa & Karen happened to take the wrong keg on the first run so that one did not count.

At the searching task the producers showed a warped sense of humor. A number of teams found one of the gold medals from the stadium detour buried in the sand.

There was a lot of arguing during this detour. Charlie behaved like a spoilt child and Molly came down on Sarah like a ton of bricks. Either the stress of the race is beginning to show, or they just had a bad day.

Towards the end of the detour there was just Lisa & Karen and Deepak & Naresh searching at the beach. When Deepak & Naresh decided to switch tasks Lisa & Karen followed suit. Strategically that was a bad decision since it should have been obvious that they had no chance beating the Indians at that task. But my guess is that they were just fed up with searching and though that the leg was going to be a non-elim.

Choice quotes:
 "We should be going that way", Charlie pointing left and walking forwards
 "Then why aren't you walking that way", Rachel asks a justified question
 "I need you to not be scared any more", Molly is trying mental tricks on Sarah
 "I just don't have any muscles in my arms", Sarah explains
 "We can do this", Molly trying the power of positive thinking
 "Don't waste any more time", Josh tries to make Sarah & Molly change detour
 "You missed it, you missed it, you missed it...", Charlie is annoying
 "The most hated compass in China, and now it is gone", Charlie throwing away the compass after having reached the pitstop.
 "Garhhhhh", Deepak finding out that the medal they just found was not what they were looking for
 "What do you mean really heavy?", Naresh at the start of carrying
 "Good job Karen, muscle man, muscle woman, muscle lady, muscle mom", List is encouraging
 "I am great at drinking beer, but not at carrying beer", Naresh after the detour

After finishing the detour Deepak & Naresh enjoy a quick mug of beer before heading for the next clue. They can take it easy since the moms still have two kegs left.

Teams must now travel to Zhanqiao pier where they will find their next clue. From the Carry detour it is 4km (0:10) and from the buried detour it is 20km (0:34) At the pier teams will take a speedboat and drive themselves to the pit stop which is aboard a Yacht between the pier and the May 4th square (8km). Although the two last teams do not get to drive themselves since it is dark at that time, they must still direct the driver though.

Teams reach the pitstop in the following order:
  1. Rick & Josh, Win a trip to Macao
  2. Charlie & Rachel
  3. Sarah & Molly
And the final two teams have not even switched to carrying at this point. It gets dark while they do the carrying so they arrive much later.
  4. Deepak & Naresh
  5. Lisa & Karen, are saved by a non-elimination

Next week there will be sailing boats and an eating or drinking challenge

Edited to correct roadblock statistics
« Last Edit: October 15, 2010, 09:46:45 AM by maf »

Offline georgiapeach

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Re: Racing report, China Rush 2010, leg 7
« Reply #1 on: October 10, 2010, 09:50:17 PM »
These are WONDERFUL maf!! Thank you so much for sharing them with us!!
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