Amazing Race Canada touches down in Fort McMurray
When I first got the call from a CTV publicist in mid-April that there was an exclusive opportunity for the Today that would be of extreme interest to our readers, I was a little hesitant.
As an editor, I'm constantly bombarded with “exclusives,” but after some consultation and communication with CTV I realized this opportunity lived up to the word.
The Amazing Race Canada was coming to Fort McMurray on April 29 and we were invited to tag along for a fast-paced day of filming throughout the region.
With a limited, but basic, understanding of the process, myself and sports reporter/ photographer Rob Murray jumped in the back of a black SUV with a CTV publicist and photographer heading for Vista Ridge, blissfully unaware of the epic day we were about to have.
While we drove, 18 men and women- nine teams- from all walks of life were descending on Fort McMurray from Vancouver; it would be the second leg of their journey to the Amazing Race Canada finish line.
Producers cellphones were ringing and radios were abuzz with a flurry of activity when we arrived at Wildplay, Vista Ridge's Aerial Adventure Park, waiting patiently for the first team to arrive.
Without access to cellphones, a GPS or a map, teams are left to find their destination using only what's immediately available to them like road signs or by asking for directions from locals.
Kenneth and Ryan were the first to start the course closely followed by Karen and Bert, each team eager to get the three clues needed to move on to the next challenge.
As the morning progressed, strategic planning, and the occasional curse word, could be heard through the producers headsets that were catching everything the contestants said through mics attached to them.
We followed Andrea and Ebonie, the first team to leave, as they raced towards the Fort McMurray Fish and Games Association's shooting range off Highway 63.
Once there, teams had to choose between a shooting challenge or a fire fighting challenge- pull it or pump it- the latter of which came with the help of members of the Fort McMurray Fire Department (FMFD).
As teams began to roll in, the firefighting challenge was the obvious favourite. Teams had to haul and set up their own heavy and clumsy trash pumps to move water through the hoses from a nearby pond to fully extinguish a controlled fire about 100 meters away. When completed, a member of the FMFD set them up with their next clue- a trip to the Phoenix Heli-Flight headquarters to take it back to grade-school for a bit of math.
As teams worked their way through a complicated equation for fuel needed to fly to Mac Island, taking passenger weight and balance into consideration, we headed to the final pitstop: the 16th hole of the Miskanaw golf course on MacDonald Island so as not to miss the first teams arriving.
Once teams provided the correct answer, they were loaded onto helicopters to make the flight to the SMS Equipment Stadium at Shell Place. From there, it would be a mad dash, on foot, to the pit stop, nearly one kilometer away.
Once we arrived on the course, production teams were in the process of setting up the stop; dozens of camera men, sounds crew, photographers and even a designated drone operator, were waiting for the first team to make their way across the golf course.
Updates were coming in quickly from their headsets, as we waited to see who would emerge from the trees first.
As cousins Megan and Courtney came barrelling towards the green, host Jon Montgomery and municipal deputy fire chief Brad Grainger were there to meet them.
For coming in first this leg, the girls won a trip for two to Aukland, New Zealand and will get to start first in the third leg of the competition.
Having gone from ninth place the first week, to first place the second, both girls were overwhelmed with their progress.
“We had the best day,” Courtney, 21, said as the day unwound. “We never stayed at a challenge longer than 40 minutes and normally challenges can take up to two hours.”
Though it was hard to keep up with these two, as they spoke with excitement, finishing each other sentences, they echoed the same eager optimism for the remainder of the race.
“We have really great communication and I think if there's a challenge that we can communicate we'll manage to make it through it,” Megan, 23, said.
The third leg of the race will see the remaning eight teams travel to Castlegar, B.C. The Amazing Race Canada airs on CTV Tuesday evenings at 9 p.m. MST.
Source:http://www.fortmcmurraytoday.com/2017/07/12/amazing-race-canada-touches-down-in-fort-mcmurray
There are also some pictures but I won't cv them here.
