Just want to start out by saying I've really enjoyed this race and I'm grateful that the judges saw something in me to let me get into the final round. There were a few times I was worried I was going to get eliminated so I'm honestly just grateful to be here.
When creating this route, I had a few things in mind:
a) choosing locations that would be challenging to design in
b) choosing locations that haven't been visited an deserve a visit
c) making legs that would be fun to watch on TV
d) avoiding the repetitive tasks (like the rappel/bungee tasks)
e) taking Jobby's advice and creating legs that make me want to go there and do the same thing.
Let's start by saying that I created this race with the idea in mind of it racing at the end of winter/beginning of spring for one reason—I want it to not be winter weather anywhere else except for the visit to Rovaniemi (where there'll be snow until late April, early May). But I'll get to that.
First leg is the Japan leg. It's pretty much the same as I submitted it, but I took Jobby's advice of having the lotus flower task at the temple.
Second leg is the Tibet leg. I changed it up a little bit. Firstly, the Roadblock is now the very first task (with an overnight stay before it to acclimate to altitude) and to make it so there's no pointless tasks before the HoA. I then got rid of the H2H and replaced it with an ARI where they have to learn the gestures (I believe this was gamer's idea). The Detour is now at the end of the leg and the pit stop is in a more exciting place (it wouldn't have been allowed for the mountain requirement).
Third leg, I wanted to take Kami's comments that he'd like to see a leg in Brunei. This was easily the most challenging leg for me to write. The leg starts in the capital with a Bruneian kite task and then a visit to the famous Kampong Ayer stilted village. The kite task I think will be great to watch—the frustration of the racers trying to keep the kite in air and the likelihoods of the kites crashing down will be great for TV. The boats are small enough and are simple enough that racers can figure out how to operate one and I think trying to find their way around the village would make an interesting to watch task. Then going out to rural/jungle Brunei with the sepak takraw, which will be a difficult task but great for TV. Finally, I added the zipline (which is an actual existing zipline in the park) to add one more TV moment.
Fourth leg is almost the same as my NZ leg, however for logistical purposes, I am having them fly into Auckland and drive to Rotorua (only a 2 hour drive, and that'll make up for it being a shorter leg task-wise). It's also a non-elimination leg because I wouldn't want a shorter leg to have a consequence like that.
Fifth leg is a leg I've been wanting to design in for a while, a Maldives leg. Another thing I considered when building this route was to have different sceneries—urban, mountain, rural, tropical, hot, cold, etc. This is fulfills that tropical scenery. I also wanted to have realistic race elements like the Travelocity sponsorship and I figured this would be the perfect leg for it. Firstly, teams have to take a boat out to Kurumba Maldives, which is the oldest resort in the Maldives. It's not far offshore from Hulhumalé (the island where Malé Airport is) and the resorts are an import part of Maldives because that where the majority of the income comes from. The speed bump incorporates this by having them set up the tables/umbrellas/chairs—something not too difficult but enough of a hiccup to constitute a speed bump. Then, diving for the gnome would be in an area that isn't too deep and is realistically diveable out of a boat (like maybe 10ft deep). Next, I wanted to incorporate a way of life in the Roadblock and that is waste disposal. Waste in The Maldives is either burnt or put onto a barge to go out to India, and trash is often collected in these bags onto these trash bikes that teams will be doing the Roadblock on. Then for the Detour I wanted to have one Blind Detour on the race, and I figured this was good because this is balanced. The submarine can be really quick if you can remember it (20 minutes) but if you keep forgetting it’ll be difficult. Then with the Maldivian coral necklaces (a local craft specialty) I think the necklaces should be intricate enough that it will take significant time and then walking around in a smelly and busy market will make it a very unpleasant task. Then finally, I thought the coral building ARI was a great way to end the race. This is actually a thing—in 2018, Summer Island had 3-D printed casts made of fake coral which were then filled with concrete and then pieced together.
Sixth leg, my Egypt leg. Nothing changed other than the fact that they are arriving by plane instead of train.
Seventh leg is the same ordeal, nothing has changed.
Eighth leg is my favorite leg of the entire race. As I noted in my Wiki, the way this season would air is for this episode to air right before Christmas as a Christmas special. The first task will be so great to watch, and I think having them both in the same area as the U-Turn too would make it not difficult for teams to catch up (as Andy & Tommy do on my leaderboard). The presents task is kind of similar to the Bora Bora sand castles, but the difference here is that teams can either choose to tear through the wrapping paper or carefully unwrap each box and put it back together. I think 100-150 boxes would be enough to make it a difficult Detour. Then for the other side, they’ll be riding with a reindeer driver along a short course so they have to remember who the kid is at each of the eight locations and what toy they wanted. They won’t know if it’s wrong until they finish the course, so it’ll make it difficult if they can’t remember. The Angry Birds task I think would be fun to watch on TV, especially with the sound effects that they can edit in. The Roadblock could be a mess, but it could also be very easy (as it would be for Andy & Tommy to catch up since they are in fact snowboarders). I imagine a go-pro on them as they go downhill. And then I think leading huskies to the pit stop would make great for promos.
Ninth leg I wanted to do something unique—a three country leg. I just did one of these in my race that I was hosting and it was a lot of fun. Each of the cities are only about a couple hour drive max between each, so it’s very doable. The first task is an allusion to Perpignan’s international photojournalism festival. Secondly, Andorra is a destination for extreme sports such as skiing but also mountain biking due to its rough terrain, and I think having that as Roadblock will be fun to watch (especially when they inevitably get lost going down the mountain). Then with the Caldea Andorra, purely just something for TV (and something that could make viewers want to go there; I implore you to look up pictures of the place). I then end it in Barcelona with the Detour. I think each of these tasks are very unique. For safety precautions, teams will wear safety pads and helmets if they choose Stand, and there will be an example so they can see how to safely climb up (also by lowering the number of tiers it makes it much more safe).
Tenth leg is my Peru leg, however I added the Speed Bump. Not much to say here other than that the Speed Bump ties into the Roadblock and it’s not particularly hard so it’s still possible to overcome (even though in my race, Tanner & Josh are U-Turned, so they don’t.)
Eleventh leg is my leg that satisfies Phil’s destinations. With it being the leg before the finale, I knew I had to stay within San José to make for easy departure the next leg and create a more ceremonious ending to the penultimate leg (I can’t really think of any rural penultimate legs). In Parque Morazan, visitors can come and catch local jugglers gather and practice (like in
this video. The route won’t be particularly difficult—basic juggling and a few tricks like under the arm. Then with the Detour I wanted to speak to two aspects of Tican life that are important—coffee and
sodas. Coffee is the most important crop in Costa Rica and each region has its own blend so I think this Detour speaks to it. Then
sodas—small family run restaurants that are a huge part of life in Costa Rica. Teams won’t be told what the special is, they have to figure out that it’s on the sign out front, and then cooking and serving it will be a nice and wholesome task to watch. Then finally, the sack race—a favorite of Tican children and will be great for promos.
Thank you so much! I hope you enjoyed this race.
I wanted to challenge myself with this leg. I know we were told we could design a final leg in any location, but I’m very much more into traditional designing and creating a race that could very well be used someday, especially given that I’m designing a second Unfinished Business. So to challenge myself, I picked an unused city that’s not particularly a tourist destination.
The first Roadblock I think would be amazing for TV and promos. Of course, there will be no physical contact (and racers will understand this when learning the fight choreography) but the shots that will come out of this will be great, especially with all the extras dressed up as villains and attacking the racer. It combines martial arts with memory. It’ll mostly be hand blocks and [fake] punches, and the villains will have hyperbolic reactions to these blocks and punches. There'll be 20 villains and each villain only requires one or two blocks/punches. And while this may be something that could be done on a Los Angeles finale, I think given that Superman was created in Cleveland, it’s a good ode to have it here.
Secondly, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. It’s a pretty decently sized museum so finding the items will be a little difficult (if I could find a layout to show locations of the memorabilia I would provide it but I couldn’t). Also no visit to Cleveland would be complete without a visit here. And I think having Joe Walsh as the clue giver would be great for TV!
I also wanted to give a nod to the Eastern European community in Cleveland with the pierogi task. There’s a number of foods that are favorites in Cleveland that could be a nod to this (like Polish Boys) but I think pierogis makes for the best TV. If you want to see how the teams would be filling and folding, you can watch
here. The dough will already be cut and the filling will be premade so all they have to do is fill and seal.
A Christmas Story House is a small task to give teams a task where they have to figure out a location. I’ve personally never seen A Christmas Story, but I know it’s a favorite of Americans for some reason, so if a team can’t figure out who Ralphie Parker is, you’ll have these fans yelling at their TV.
Finally, the memory task. I immediately knew I wanted to do a memory task at NASA (I’ve actually considered doing a leg in Houston for a NASA task) and I think this is a great way to end the season. The picture I used for the Roadblock is exactly what it’ll look like in terms of the setup for each station and the rockets (though the rockets will have pictures on them). They’ll all be in a pile in the center, with hundreds of rockets with pictures on them as red herrings. I’m having them go to a separate area to launch the rocket rather than launch the ones they set up for three reasons: a) the chances of them stepping on rockets trying to find the correct ones could damage them and make them unable to launch, b) I wouldn’t want them to feel the weight of the clue, and c) I think the rocket would have to be a little bigger than the ones they use so it can hold the clue and the parachute. And then to have the clue parachuting down, that’s just purely for great TV. And then I have the finish line in Lakewood Park to give a picturesque ending in front of Lake Erie.
If you have any more concerns, refer to the wiki please!
Here is the flight for the leg:
https://i.ibb.co/ZL5xv68/Screen-Shot-2020-11-19-at-5-52-16-PM.pngHere is the map:
https://i.ibb.co/sWJgTgz/Screen-Shot-2020-11-19-at-5-53-31-PM.pngCalculations for money (using numbeo.com):
$34 for taxi to Public Square
$8 for taxi to R&R Hall of Fame
$10 for taxi to Pierogi Palace
$10 for taxi to A Christmas Story House
$30 for taxi to NASA
$23 for taxi to Finish Line
$120 for taxi wait times
