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maf:
Racing report
Amazing Race Canada Season 8, Episode 1, "Come on Doodlebug"
Film dates: 2022-04-27

This season starts in Place Bernard in Mont Tremblanc.

The teams in this season are:

* Jully & Kathy, friends from Toronto ON
* Court & Ali, dating for less than a year from Whistler BC
* Brendan & Connor, brothers from McDougal ON
* Dennis & Durell, uncle/nephew from Halifax NS
* Jesse & Marika, siblings (Olympic cross country skier and actress/hoop dancer) from Canmore AB
* Catherine & Craig, best friends (performers)
* Cedric & Tychon, father/son
* Franca & Nella, sisters from Edmonton AB
* Cassie & Jahmeek, engaged
* Beverly & Veronica, friendsJon also presents the prize for the winners of this season. It is two new Chevrolet cars, a trip for 2 around the world, $250,000 and the title.

Once Jon starts the race teams run over to their bags and pick up their first clue. This is a route info with the title "Crack the code". Teams must find five marked plaques in the Mont Tremblanc city center and use them to crack this code:

 5-50  ___
 2-46  ___
 1-35  ___

 2-102 ___
 3-134 ___
 5-99  ___
 4-83  ___
 1-55  ___
 4-62  ___
 5-64  ___
 3-91  ___


The numbers in the code represent the plaque number and a letter on the plaque. Finding all of them leads to "DLO LTAREONM". They then need to unscramble this and should finally arrive at "OLD MONTRÉAL". Once they have the solution they need to tell it to the judge and he will give them their next clue.

This code is fairly simple. The biggest difficulty is to figure out if the title of the plaque counts or not. But then the last two teams miss the unscrambling step and are reciting gibberish to the judge. Eventually Brendan & Connor come back up and tell them the answer.

Teams complete this task in the following order:
  1. Beverly & Veronica
  2. Catherine & Craig
  3. Court & Ali
  4. Cassie & Jahmeek
  5. Franca & Nella
  6. Brendan & Connor, overheard the other teams speaking to the judge
  7. Jesse & Marika
  8. Jully & Kathy
  ?. Dennis & Durell
  ?. Cedric & Tychon

Teams must now make their way, on foot, to the village docks where they can sign up for one of two buses arriving 15 minutes apart in Motréal. After they have signed up and realize that two teams are missing Brendan & Connor goes back into town and helps the last two teams with the code task.

Teams end up on the buses in the following order:

Bus #1
  1(+0) Beverly & Veronica
  2(+4) Brendan & Connor
  3(+1) Cassie & Jahmeek
  4(-1) Court & Ali
  5(-3) Catherine & Craig

Bus #2
  6(-1) Franca & Nella
  7(+0) Jesse & Marika
  8(+0) Jully & Kathy
  ?(+?) Dennis & Durell
  ?(+?) Cedric & Tychon

The next clue box is just outside where the buses stop. It contains a route info which directs teams to find one of two walking billboards, advertising the latest Marvel movie, in Old Montréal. When they find one of them they will receive their next clue as well as a sack containing some puzzle pieces. The puzzle pieces will be used to assemble a small version of Mjölnir, Thor's hammer, at the end of the leg.

We get a nice shot of Cedric & Tychon walking right past one of the billboards without noticing it.

Teams find one of the billboards in the following order:
  1. Brendan & Connor
  2. Beverly & Veronica
  3. Cassie & Jahmeek
  4. Court & Ali
  5. Catherine & Craig
  6. Franca & Nella
  7. Jully & Kathy
  8. Jesse & Marika
  9. Dennis & Durell
 10. Cedric & Tychon

Road block: Who is feeling well rounded?

In this road block one team member must climb to the top of La Grande Roue de Montréal. That is a giant Ferris wheel. They must first climb the stairs built into the legs up to the middle of the wheel and from there production has installed ladders (the wheel is not rotating). There are two sets of stairs and ladders so two contestants can do this at the same time.

A nice thing about this road block is that teams receive the clue well away form the wheel so they have no idea of what the road block will entail when they have to decide who should do it.

 "Are you kidding me, I'm already shaking", On the way to the wheel Craig lets us know that he does not like heights
 "Oh boy, it's windy up here", Beverly while she is climbing the ladder
 "Come on Doodlebug, that's what mom calls him", Brendan gets the title
 "I'm a firefighter back in Toronto", Jahmeek feels comfortable on the ladder
 "The key to this challenge is to not die", Craig is really not happy about doing this
 "I'm afraid of heights, but my strategy is to stay occupied. So I am singing all the time while on the way up", Nella
 
Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the road block):
1(+0)Brendan & Connor*  (0-1) 2(+0)Beverly* & Veronica(1-0) 3(+0)Cassie & Jahmeek*  (0-1) 4(+0)Court & Ali*       (0-1) 5(+0)Catherine & Craig* (0-1) 6(+1)Jully* & Kathy     (1-0) 7(-1)Franca & Nella*    (0-1) 8(+0)Jesse* & Marika    (1-0) 9(+0)Dennis* & Durell   (1-0)10(+0)Cedric & Tychon*   (0-1)
Detour: Jazz or Pizzazz

In Jazz teams must make their way to Upstairs Jazz. Here they must listen to a recording of a Jazz singer and memorize the lyrics. They must then perform the song, including the scat sections, to the satisfaction of the judge.

In Pizzazz teams must make their way to the Wiggle room, a Burlesque club. Here they must learn how to do a Burlesque dance. They must then don a couple of accessories which they must remove during the performance.

It turns out that teams must self drive to the detour locations (5km/3km).

Pizzazz seems fairly easy. Teams do not have to learn any specific steps. They just have to remove two articles of clothing (for example a fan and a boa) in the correct order while being sensual and confident and end up in a pose on the chair.

 "In this moment we realize that Burlesque may be our calling", Connor
 "I never in a million years thought I was going to do Burlesque, with my brother", Marika

Jully & Kathy gets lost on the way to the detour. Eventually they flag down a police car and asks for directions.
 "Oh, you're far", The policeman to the girls
Eventually they convince the nice policeman to escort them there, and he turns his lights and sirens on. They arrive to the parking lot as Franca & Nella are leaving the detour.

Teams complete the detour in the following order:
  1(+0) Brendan & Connor, Pizzazz
  2(+0) Beverly & Veronica, Pizzazz
  3(+2) Catherine & Craig, Pizzazz
  4(-1) Cassie & Jahmeek, Pizzazz
  5(+2) Franca & Nella, Jazz
  6(-2) Court & Ali, Pizzazz
  7(+2) Dennis & Durell, Pizzazz
  8(+0) Jesse & Marika, Pizzazz, on their second attempt (did not start & end with the music)
  9(-3) Jully & Kathy, Jazz, on their second show attempt (ended before the music)
 10(+0) Cedric & Tychon, Pizzazz, on their second attempt (probably got rid of items in the wrong order)

As Cedric & Tychon are leaving the detour they realize they do not have the last set of puzzle pieces. Fortunately for them they do this before they leave so they can run back into the dressing room where they left them.

Teams must now drive to the historic Theatre Rialto (6km/3km). Once there teams needs to assemble Mjölnir from the puzzle pieces they received during the leg (does not seems to be particularly difficult). Once done they can run down to Jon who is waiting on the mat on the main stage.

Beverly & Veronica reaches the theater as Brendan & Connor are still working on the puzzle. And teams #4-#7 are all there at the same time and reach the mat very close together.

Cedric & Tychon arrive just as Jesse & Marika are making their way to the stage. As far as they know they are last.

Teams reach Jon in the following order:
  1(+0) Brendan & Connor, win a trip to Los Angeles and a $2500 gift card and three express passes
  2(+0) Beverly & Veronica
  3(+1) Cassie & Jahmeek
  4(+1) Franca & Nella
  5(-2) Catherine & Craig
  6(+0) Court & Ali
  7(+0) Dennis & Durell
  8(+0) Jesse & Marika
  9(+1) Cedric & Tychon
 10(-1) Jully & Kathy, are eliminated

Brendan & Connor get three express passes. They can use one for themselves and must give the other two away before the end of the fourth leg.

 "Performing on stage is nerve racking, but this race; next level", Jully

maf:
Racing report
Amazing Race Canada Season 8, Episode 2, "Goatageddon"
Film dates: probably 2022-04-29 - 2022-04-30

The last leg ended in Theatre Rialto in Montréal. This leg starts behind Place des arts (almost 4km from the last pit stop). Teams are released in the following order:
1.Brendan & Connor  08:532.Beverly & Veronica09:04+0:113.Cassie & Jahmeek  09:22+0:294.Franca & Nella    ??:??+?:??5.Catherine & Craig ??:??+?:??6.Court & Ali       ??:??+?:??7.Dennis & Durell   09:40+0:478.Jesse & Marika    09:50+0:579.Cedric & Tychon   09:51+0:58
Route info: Fly to Calgary, Alberta

 "Calgary, my home town", Beverly
 
Teams self drive to the airport. Once they land in Calgary they jump into the provided sponsor cars where they will find their next clue. We note that all the sponsor cars are red so teams have to remember which number their car has (the number is on a sticker in the window).

Route info: Drive yourselves to the city of Lethbridge, Alberta.

Lethbridge is 223km away and teams are headed to a giant rattlesnake statue in Indian battle park. Here they are greeted by representatives for the Blackfoot people. Court has a history as a first nation child who was forcibly put in a Christian school so this feels really meaningful for him. The ceremony ends with teams getting their next clue.

I assume that when teams arrived in the park they found an hours of operations, they then had to spend the night before the ceremony started the next morning. I do this because the sunlight during the ceremony indicates early morning and all teams are there at the same time (a 200+km drive should have separated them a little).

The next clue they get is a detour: Hoots or Herd?

In Herd teams must locate the national historic site Fort Whoop-Up (500m). Here teams will encounter a herd of goats. They will then choose a colored bandanna and must then find the goats wearing the same color and add up the numbers written  on these bandannas (typically in the range 11-48). They may not take any notes during this task.

In Hoot teams make their way to the Helen Chuler nature center (500m). Here one racer must listen and learn 7 different owl sounds (each has a corresponding number). Their partner will read a description of the sounds and the name of the corresponding owls. Once they feel ready they can meet up and combine their knowledge to figure out which species of owl makes each sound.

In Herd there are seven different colors of the bandannas so I guess no more than seven teams could do this task. Another small detail is that all teams have different totals they should reach, which means that they can not share their answer. And there is a trick, each color has two goats with the same number. It is easy to think you have already counted that number when in fact you need to count both instances.

In Hoot the top of the description reads:

Short-eared Own: This raspy owl sounds like a small puppy trying to bark.

Northen Saw-whet Owl: This owl makes a series of short, high-pitched notes. It sounds like
something is beeping repeatedly.

Long-eared Owl: This owl makes five separate "whooos" in a row.

Barred Owl: This owl sounds like a monkey cheering out "Hip-Hip Hooray! Hip-Hip Hooraay!"


It seems as if both sides are difficult and nobody gets the right answer on their first attempt. We get to see a lot of people trying to chase goats to read what is written on the bandannas.

 "It is goatageddon", Court gets the title
 "72 plus 29 that is 99", Catherine & Craig have a hard time with the math (an easy mistake to make)
 "We tried naming them, we tried counting them out loud, tried all the strategies", Durell
 "72 plus 29, 72, 82, 92,... 101 aaaaaagh", Catherine figures out what she is doing wrong
 
Franca & Nella create a song of all the numbers they see to help them remember them.

Cedric & Tychon tell the correct sequence of owls to Brendan & Connor and afterwards they hope they will get an express pass.

Cassie & Jahmeek talk about switching, at that time they have spent two hours counting goats. But they decide to keep at it and through the power of editing it seems they get it on their next attempt.

 "When my 13 year brother see me not being able to count, I'm dead", Cassie
 
Teams complete the detour in the following order:
 1. Jesse & Marika, herd
 2. Franca & Nella, herd
 3. Beverly & Veronica, herd
 4. Catherine & Craig, herd
 5. Cedric & Tychon, hoot on their 4th attempt
 6. Brendan & Connor, hoot on their 5th attempt
 7. Dennis & Durell, herd
 8. Cassie & Jahmeek, herd
 9. Court & Ali, herd

Route info: Be fresh, refresh

In this task teams must find a specific Subway restaurant. Once there they must memorize a shopping list:

Vegetables to collect
  22 Tomatoes
  15 Bell peppers
  18 Onions
  27 Cucumbers

They are also give the addresses of three different farm stands. They must drive out to all of these and collect the needed ingredients and bring them back. Each stand holds a few different kinds of produce so they need to remember what to bring.

Jesse & Marika find a nice local outside who helps them with directions. Later in the car they talk about how he looked familiar. The producers helpfully gives us a repeat of the sequence but this time they add a name tag showing him to be Ron Sutter, a Canadian hockey legend. Jesse says he almost looked like one of the Sutter brothers. I wonder how much the producers triggered this sequence.

Franca & Nella are just behind Jesse & Marika so they put their car in sport mode and pass them.

Teams complete this task in the following order:
 1(+1) Franca & Nella
 2(-1) Jesse & Marika
 3(+0) Beverly & Veronica
 4(+2) Brendan & Connor
 5(+0) Cedric & Tychon
 6(-2) Catherine & Craig
 7(+0) Dennis & Durell
 8(+0) Cassie & Jahmeek
 9(+0) Court & Ali

In addition to their next clue each team member also gets a footlong sub for the road.

Road block: Who's up for a slice?

In this road block teams must locate Ctrl V, a local virtual reality arcade. Once here the selected team members must master the game Rhythmatic. They must get a score of 90% or better to receive their next clue.

 "Do you want me to encourage you or do you just want to do it on your own?", Veronica is smart to ask (Beverly does not want any encouragement)

Catherine & Craig arrive just as Beverly & Veronica are leaving this task.

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the road block):
1(+0)Franca* & Nella    (1-1)2(+0)Jesse & Marika*    (1-1)3(+0)Beverly* & Veronica(2-0)On her 4th attempt4(+0)Brendan* & Connor  (1-1)On his 3rd attempt5(+1)Catherine* & Craig (1-1)6(-1)Cedric* & Tychon   (1-1)On his 4th attempt7(+0)Dennis & Durell*   (1-1)On his 3rd attempt8(+0)Cassie* & Jahmeek  (1-1)On her at least 3rd attempt9(+0)Court* & Ali       (1-1)On his 2nd attempt
Route info: Drive yourself to Waterton lakes national park and search outside the Prince of Wales hotel for Jon at your next pit stop.
The pit stop is 126km from Ctrl V so it is quite a drive.

Teams reach Jon in the following order:
 1(+0) Franca & Nella, win a trip to Lima, a $5000 gift card at Marshals as well as footlongs for a year and $5000 from Subway
 2(+0) Jesse & Marika
 3(+0) Beverly & Veronica
 4(+0) Brendan & Connor
 5(+0) Catherine & Craig
 6(+0) Cedric & Tychon
 7(+0) Dennis & Durell
 8(+0) Cassie & Jahmeek, just after #7
 9(+0) Court & Ali, just after #8

Instead of eliminating the last team Jon tells them that the race is still on and hands them their next clue.

maf:
Racing report
Amazing Race Canada Season 8, Episode 3, "We love Weenies!"
Film dates: 2022-05-01 - 2022-05-02

The last leg ended with teams getting the next clue at the pit stop outside the Prince of Wales hotel in Waterton lakes national park. Teams started this leg in the following order:
1.Franca & Nella    13:232.Jesse & Marika    13:37+0:143.Beverly & Veronica14:02+0:394.Brendan & Connor  14:20+0:575.Catherine & Craig 14:44+1:216.Cedric & Tychon   14:58+1:357.Dennis & Durell   15:21+1:588.Cassie & Jahmeek  15:22+1:599.Court & Ali       15:23+2:00
The last three teams are seen leaving the mat at the same time but we are shown different departure times (1 minute apart) and they seem to leave one after the other. One possible explanation is that production noted the time when teams arrived and the released them a set time after that. That would allow Jon talk to them on the mat for a while without affecting the race. Perhaps the wait was long enough that they, or at least their camera teams, had time to eat a bit?

Route info: Drive yourselves to Waterton village and find your next clue outside Pat's Waterton.

 "We have been waiting for the Amazing Race Canada for the past two years before we start to have babies", Cassie
 
Teams arrive to the clue box outside Pat's (1.6km) in the following order:
 1(+0) Franca & Nella
 2(+0) Jesse & Marika
 3(+0) Beverly & Veronica
 4(+0) Brendan & Connor
 5(+0) Catherine & Craig
 6(+0) Cedric & Tychon
 ?(+?) Dennis & Durell
 ?(+?) Cassie & Jahmeek
 ?(+?) Court & Ali

Route info: You Big Weenie!

Teams must now use a side-by-side bike to ride to Wieners of Waterton. Here they must choose one of a bunch of order sheets. Each order sheet contains four deliveries like:
Waterton Opera House
309 Wind Flower Ave, Waterton Park, AB TOK 2MO
 1 x SWEET POTATO FRIES WITH SPICY MAYO
 1 x LOCAL SMOKIE WITH BACON N'CHOOSE, RELISH, PICKLED ONION, MAYO
 1 x LIL'WIENER WITH CHEESE, RELISH, DIJON MUSTARD, CHIPOTLE MUSTARD
 1 x 1/4 WIENER WITH KETCHUP, PICKLED ONION, CHIPOTLE MAYO
 1 x LIL'WIENDER WITH CHEESE, RELISH, DIJON MUSTARD, CHIPOTLE MAYO

Teams must memorize these orders before delivering them. All the wieners etc can be found in baskets just inside the shop.

Jesse & Marika realize they can have one person stand in the door next to the wieners and their partner can read out load which ones to pick from the order sheet and thus they do not have to remember anything. Beverly & Veronica see them doing this and do the same. Jesse & Marika then tell the trick to Brendan & Connor (with a hope to get an express pass).

Franca & Nella have a map of the town but still struggle with finding the locations.
 "We are avid spinners", Franca & Nella feel confident
 "They are going slow", But Jesse & Marika are catching up

Franca & Nella offer Brendan & Connor their map in exchange for an express pass. The boys refuse.
 "Having these express passes is exhausting", Brendan & Connor
 "It would come back around if you wanna help us", Brendan to the girls
In the end the girls give the boys their map.

Teams complete this challenge in the following order:
 1(+1) Jesse & Marika
 2(-1) Franca & Nella
 3(+0) Beverly & Veronica
 4(+0) Brendan & Connor
 5(+0) Catherine & Craig
 ?(+?) Cedric & Tychon
 ?(+?) Dennis & Durell
 ?(+?) Cassie & Jahmeek
 ?(+?) Court & Ali

Route info: "Driver yourself to Pincher station and sign up for the next available bus."
The buses will take teams to Fernie, BC.

Teams reach the sign up board (60km) in the following order:
Bus #1:
 1(+0) Jesse & Marika
 2(+0) Franca & Nella
 3(+0) Beverly & Veronica
 4(+0) Brendan & Connor
Bus #2:
 5(+0) Catherine & Craig
 ?(+?) Cedric & Tychon
 ?(+?) Dennis & Durell
 ?(+?) Cassie & Jahmeek
 ?(+?) Court & Ali

Teams also get a new clue here. It contains a route info and a phone. They must use the Expedia app to book a hotel in nearby Pincher Creek.

The next day the buses will drive them 220km to Sparwood, BC. The buses will arrive 15 minutes apart. Once teams arrive they will find a bunch of sponsor cars with detour clues inside. They must now drive themselves to Fernie (30km) where the detours take place.

Detour: Learning to fly or Ready to roll

In Ready to roll teams must assemble a mountain bike from scratch with only a finished bike as reference. This takes place at GearHub Sports in Fernie.

In Learn to fly teams get to listen to a elaborate fishing story which uses the quirky names given to a series of fishing lures called flies. They must then make their way on foot 1km down to the river where they must place the 20 mentioned flies in the correct order. They may not take any notes. This detour takes place in front of the Kootenay Fly Shop in Fernie.

From looking at Google maps it seems they do the fly ordering next to Duck Pond, which is only about 500m from the fly shop.

The fishing story starts with: "I never forget the summer I fell in love with fly fishing. While other kinds were playing with baseball cards I collecting a Bone wiggler, a Muddy buddy and a Purple haze."

 "That is nuts, there is nothing in my mind right other than like something boobie", Marika after listening to the fishing story
 "This could make up some time 'case I have had three BMXes growing up", Cedric

Jesse & Marika is the only team from the first bus opting for the fly detour. When they come back after having made their first run they find two teams from the second bus listening to the story. They explain what the setup at the river looks like and they all decide to work together.

Cassie wants to do the fly fishing but Jahmeek feels he can do the bike so they go for it. The bikes turns out to be much harder than expected so when they can not even pump up the tire they decide to switch. By this time the other teams doing fly have already left so they have to do it themselves. The distance between the detours is about 1km.

Franca & Nella have a hard time getting their tires onto the rims and eventually Dennis & Durell helps them.

Teams complete the detour in the following order:
 1(+0) Brendan & Connor, bike
 2(-1) Jesse & Marika, fly
 3(+2) Court & Ali, fly
 4(+1) Catherine & Craig, fly, directly after #2
 5(-4) Beverly & Veronica, bike
 6(-1) Cedric & Tychon, bike
 7(-2) Dennis & Durell, bike
 8(-7) Franca & Nella, bike
 9(-4) Cassie & Jahmeek, started bike but switched to fly

Road block: Who's ready to take it to the streets?

In this road block racers have to dress up and learn & lead an 80's style aerobic routine on the streets of Fernie. There are no individual instructors, instead racers have to learn the routine by watching it being performed over and over.

This road block takes place at 532 2 Ave, Fernie. Teams go to The Arts station to get changed (200m from bike and 850m from fly).

 "20+ years of teaching aerobics and fitness classes", Craig feels this is his time to shine.

It turns out that it is not enough to know the routine. You must have energy and look like you are leading it as well.

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the road block):
1(+3)Catherine & Craig* (1-2)On his 2nd attempt2(-1)Brendan & Connor*  (1-2)On his 2nd attempt3(+2)Beverly & Veronica*(2-1)On her 2nd attempt4(-2)Jesse* & Marika    (2-1)On his 6th attempt5(-2)Court & Ali*       (1-2)On her 3rd attempt6(+0)Cedric & Tychon*   (1-2)On his 3rd attempt7(+1)Franca & Nella*    (1-2)On her 3rd attempt6(-1)Dennis* & Durell   (2-1)On his 3rd attempt7(+0)Cassie & Jahmeek*  (1-2)On his 2nd attempt
Route info: Drive yourselves to Fernie Golf Course and search on foot for Jon at the fourth hole and your next pit stop.

The golf course is about 2.6km from the road block so there is no margin for error. The editors try to build suspense by showing us team #2 spot Jon before they show the first team doing so. But the experienced watcher is not fooled by such antics.

Teams reach the pit stop in the following order:
 1(+0) Catherine & Craig, win a trip to Bangkok and a $2000 gift card at Marshalls
 2(+0) Brendan & Connor
 3(+0) Beverly & Veronica
 4(+0) Jesse & Marika
 5(+0) Court & Ali
 6(+0) Cedric & Tychon
 7(+0) Franca & Nella
 8(+0) Dennis & Durell
 9(+0) Cassie & Jahmeek, are eliminated

 "I'm proud of you", Cassie

maf:
Racing report
Amazing Race Canada Season 8, Episode 4, "Feel the fear and do it anyways"
Film dates: unknown

This episode starts with an announcement from Jon. It turns out that Dennis & Durell, Court & Ali and Catherine & Craig are unable to continue the race at this time due to Covid. To counter this production has invited the previously eliminated teams Jully & Kathy and Cassie & Jahmeek back into the race.

The last leg ended on a golf course in Fernie BC. Teams are released from the town of Fernie in the following order:
1.Brendan & Connor  05:422.Beverly & Veronica05:47+0:053.Jesse & Marika    05:50+0:084.Cedric & Tychon   06:13+0:315.Franca & Nella    06:17+0:356.Cassie & Jahmeek  06:55+1:137.Jully & Kathy     07:02+1:20
The first clue tells teams to make their way, on foot, to City Hall in Fernie where they will sign up for one of two buses to Canmore, AB. The buses will depart at 07:30 and will arrive 15 minutes apart. The clue also mentions that Cassie & Jahmeek and Jully & Kathy will need to complete a speed bump on this leg of the race.

I guess this means that the buses will travel together to Canmore and once they are almost at the location the second will just wait 15 minutes before driving the last bit to their destination. This probably also means that if one of the buses breaks down production will make sure they still arrive withing the prescribed time interval.

 "Today is not only our day to come first but today is the day we get an express pass from Brendan & Connor", Veronica is optimistic

While waiting for the bus Brendan & Connor hand over their extra express passed to Jesse & Marika and Franca & Nella.
 "We don't need an express pass, we're not in second to last place", Beverly is a bit bitter

Teams end up on the buses in the following order:
Bus #1:
 1(+0) Brendan & Connor
 2(+0) Beverly & Veronica
 3(+0) Jesse & Marika

Bus #2:
 4(+0) Cedric & Tychon
 5(+0) Franca & Nella
 6(+0) Cassie & Jahmeek
 7(+0) Jully & Kathy

The buses arrive at Canoe Meadow on the edge of the Kananaskis river (338km). Teams seems to exit the buses in the same order they signed up. The next clue box is visible from the bus and teams run over there.

Route info: Go with the flow. Canoe the white waters of the Kananaskiks river and search downriver for your next clue.

Teams must now suit up and paddle a 3km stretch of the river. They will travel in inflatable canoes with a guide. There is not much searching involved as the next clue is clearly marked by a hard to miss flag placed on the shore of the river.

Teams suit up a bit away from the river and then follow a marked trail down to the canoes. Jully & Kathy miss that part and run directly down to their canoe. They will then have to run back up to get changed.

We also see that teams have watertight bags they have to put their backpacks in. Cedric & Tychon have a hard time with this as their bags seem to be a bit on the big side. Their guide seems to be enjoying looking at them struggling.

Here Cassie & Jahmeek and Jully & Kathy encounter their speed bump. They must simply inflate their own canoes before they can leave.

Teams complete the canoeing in the following order:
 1(+0) Brendan & Connor
 2(+1) Jesse & Marika
 3(-1) Beverly & Veronica
 4(+1) Franca & Nella
 5(+1) Cassie & Jahmeek
 6(+1) Jully & Kathy
 7(-3) Cedric & Tychon

Road block: Who thinks diamonds are forever?

Teams must now travel on foot to the red barn at Star Six Ranch (which is nearby). Here they will find an ongoing silent demonstration of a classic diamond hitch knot. This knot is used to secure packs to a horse. They must then recreate this on their own simulated horses.

As usual teams have to decide who is doing the road block before they can even see the task so they have no idea what it entails. The task seems to be pretty hard and most racers struggle with it.

 "Of all days to wear the cutest white outfits", Veronica feels drenched in sweat after the canoeing and running
 "I'm exited that we choose Franca to do this because she's way more detail oriented than me", Nella
 "These are not the diamonds I was expecting", Cassie
 "I see it and it makes sense and then I run back here and it's gone", Beverly

Beverly struggles and feels frustrated. She asks Franca to help her multiple times but Franca wants to focus on her own things, she also does not want to help Beverly.

We learn that Jully & Kathy are racing for their late mothers.

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the road block):
1(+0)Brendan* & Connor  (2-2)2(+0)Jesse* & Marika    (3-1)3(+1)Franca* & Nella    (2-2)4(-1)Beverly* & Veronica(3-1)5(+1)Jully & Kathy*     (1-1)6(+1)Cedric & Tychon*   (1-3)7(-2)Cassie* & Jahmeek  (2-2)
Teams must now jump into one of the sponsor cars and drive to Canmore, AB (24km). Here they must search the trans Canada trail along the edge of the Bow river for their next clue. It seems their instructions tell them to go to the Bow river campgrounds.

Teams reach the clue box here in the following order:
 1(+0) Brendan & Connor
 2(+0) Jesse & Marika, as Brendan & Connor are doing the puzzle
 3(+0) Franca & Nella, after the first two teams have left
 4(+0) Beverly & Veronica, as France & Nella are leaving
 5(+1) Cedric & Tychon, as Beverly & Veronica are doing the puzzle
 6(-1) Jully & Kathy, as Beverly & Veronica and Jully & Kathy are doing the puzzle
 7(+0) Cassie & Jahmeek, after all others have left

Route info: Let it slide.
Teams must complete a 4x4 sliding puzzle. Each puzzle has a different picture but they all seem to be equally difficult. One additional wrinkle is that the location for the "missing" piece differs (it is always a corner piece though).

 "We're not real puzzle guys", Connor
 "I do not know how they did that so fast", Beverly when Cedric & Tychon complete their puzzle
 "What are we missing?", Beverly when Jully & Kathy pass them

Jesse & Marika do not really work together on this. First she is determined to get her way so he goes down to the river and then later she gives up and lets him continue.

Teams complete their puzzle in the following order:
 1(+0) Brendan & Connor
 2(+0) Jesse & Marika
 3(+0) Franca & Nella
 4(+2) Cedric & Tychon
 5(+0) Jully & Kathy
 6(-2) Beverly & Veronica
 7(+0) Cassie & Jahmeek

Road block: Who's happy that they won't be tying any knots?

The person who did not do the diamonds road block must do this one. In this road blocks participating team members must ride an adaptive bike. This one is pedaled by the riders arms. They must complete a course in 1:45 or less.

This road block takes place at the Canmore Nordic Center (8km).

The bikes are hard to ride and we get to see lots of racers tip over.

We learn that Jully has a small sister who is disabled and taught Jully to use her adaptive bike when they were kids. She is doing this challenge for her sister. And she has to fight for it as she struggles a lot but finally completes the course in the allotted time.

It is getting really tense towards the end when Veronica fails on her 6th attempt and then Jahmeek almost gets it on his first. Veronica must know that she has only one chance to avoid ending up in last place so the pressure is on for her 7th attempt.

Teams complete this road block in the following order (* denotes team member doing the road block):
1(+0)Brendan & Connor*  (2-3)In 1:27:98 on his 1st attempt2(+0)Jesse & Marika*    (3-2)In 1:41:06 on her 2nd attempt3(+0)Franca & Nella*    (2-3)In 1:38:13 on her 5th attempt4(+0)Cedric* & Tychon   (2-3)In 1:44:20 on his 3rd attempt5(+0)Jully* & Kathy     (2-1)In 1:44:50 on her 9th attempt6(+0)Beverly & Veronica*(3-2)In 1:42:70 on her 7th attempt7(+0)Cassie & Jahmeek*  (2-3)In 1:17:77 on his 2nd attempt
Teams now has to search the grounds of the Canmore Nordic Center for the Biathlon range where they will find Jon and their next pit stop. Nobody seems to have any problems finding the mat so to road was either very obvious or marked.

In keeping with the theme of the adaptive bikes the pit stop greeter is a Paralympics gold medalist. A nice touch.

Teams check in in the following order:
 1(+0) Brendan & Connor, win a trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina and a $1500 gift card to Marshalls.
 2(+0) Jesse & Marika
 3(+0) Franca & Nella
 4(+0) Cedric & Tychon
 5(+0) Jully & Kathy
 6(+0) Beverly & Veronica
 7(+0) Cassie & Jahmeek, are saved by a non-elimination

At the mat Jon plays with the last team telling them this is the end... of this leg of the race.

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