It’s a race against stereotypes for two all-female Amazing Race Canada teams
Marielle “Mar” Lyon’s proudest moment as a Toronto Argonauts cheerleader didn’t come when the team won the Grey Cup last year — although that was awesome, she says.
It was when a Grade 12 student wrote to say that because Lyon opened up about her own experience with bullying at a school assembly, she felt for the first time since she started high school that she wasn’t alone.
“I can’t even describe the feeling of what it was like to be on the field when we won Grey Cup, but absolutely nothing beats the feeling of someone saying, ‘You saved my life,’” Lyon says.
She and fellow cheerleader Leanne Larsen are among the 10 teams taking part in The Amazing Race Canada: Heroes Edition, which debuts July 3 at 8 p.m. on CTV. The competitors all have something about them that’s considered heroic, whether they’re first responders, cancer survivors or people who volunteer to help others.
“It took both of us a little while to come up with exactly the wording of why we’re heroes,” says Larsen. But they’ve both been involved for several years with the Argonauts’ bullying prevention program “and it’s a program that’s so near and dear to our hearts, and we absolutely love it.”
It’s especially personal for Lyon, 26, who’s originally from Thunder Bay.
“When (the kids) see me when I walk in, I have my pompoms and my eyelashes and my blond hair, they immediately think, ‘Oh well, she’s a cheerleader. She’s never been through anything hard in her entire life. …’
“It’s cool when I tell them that I struggled when I was younger and I was picked on, that I literally had no friends from Grade 7 to Grade 11, and to see how far I’ve come.”
Larsen, 25, who’s from Oakville, wasn’t bullied but says she battled self-doubt, shyness and other people telling her she wasn’t good enough before becoming a competitive cheerleader in high school, which led to an all-star team, meeting Lyon and joining the Argos.
There’s another thing the friends are battling as they run The Amazing Race: the perception that cheerleaders are all style, no substance.
“When people see cheerleaders, they focus on the beauty aspect of it,” Larsen says. “They never focus on the athleticism, the strength, the perseverance, the dedication. Always being able to smile and find something to learn and grow from even if our team is blitzing.
“It’s going to be within our nature to just persevere and keep going, and keep cheering each other on.”
Adds Lyon: “People may look at us and think that we’re not going to be a physical threat, but throw anything at us and we’re going to charge through it. You want me to lift a tractor tire, I’ll do it. I’ve done it before.”
Source:https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/television/2018/06/15/its-a-race-against-stereotypes-for-two-all-female-amazing-race-canada-teams.html