2007 CHAMPIONSHIP RACE

"Expect the unexpected"... this is the theme for The Amazing Hunt 2007 races. Well, it definitely held true once again in our 2007 championship race!

The weather was unexpectedly nice today. After all the raining and low temperature, the day was sunny and not to cold for a day in November. As always, the eligible teams for the championship gathered and didn't know what to expect. It was a 6-hour race across the Greater Vancouver region which they were only allowed to travel on foot and by public transportation.

Teams were spread out from the beginning when some teams cannot even figure out where Pacific Central Station located. Then, teams encountered a detour choice between "Lost in Translation" and "Lost in Transaction." Teams had a hard time to locate a store with only foreign characters provided. What was more suprising was that some teams also got lost when they were trying to find a store even with the address given. Later, teams are instructed to go to North Vancouver by seabus and resulted in a 2, 5 spilt as first two teams were fighting for the 1st place and rest fought for not getting eliminated.

The final twist was revealed when Andy & Shane checked in the pit stop first. As the winning team for this leg of the race, they obtained a new power which they could use it to switch two teams' depature order from the pit stop. With that, Andy & Shane decided to switch Norman & Trevor with Cheri & Martin. This never before seen twist (power) brings another new aspect to the race. I am sure we will see some similar new power appear in the future race!

In the 2nd leg, teams were asked to solve a clue and faced a in-door rock climbing challenge. Two teams failed to do so and took a 30-minute time penalty. Later, teams have to locate some little-known location to search for the route marker. While several teams got lost, two teams surged ahead to the final challenge, a detour at Craving For a Game in Central City Shopping Centre.

It was a choice between "Numbers" and "Puzzles". No teams had chosen Numbers because the questions were related to The Amazing Hunt itself which once again proved to be difficult for all teams like last year's championship race. In Puzzles, teams need to put all the puzzle pieces back to the provided container. It was a huge shocked for me to see some smart teams struggled and some teams just had their luck and finished the task in no time.

In the end, it was proven that family ties are stronger than anything. The father and son team, Dirk and Roger, claimed the title of The Amazing Hunt 2007 champions. Also, a congratulation to the under dog, Dave and Jeff, just 2 seconds short, came in 3rd place.

Overall, the tasks weren't difficult but it was physical and also mentally stressful to travel across the Greater Vancouver region only relied on public transits. A few teams said that the extensive traveling made their brain not function as well as usual and caused them the race. But, all of them had a great time in such a good weather and the race result was just really unexpected!

All the thanks to the racers and staffs making the 2007 races possible. See you all next year!

[LEG ONE]
1st - Andy & Shane
2nd - Dean & Stephen
3rd - Norman & Trevor
4th - Dave & Jeff
5th - Dirk & Roger
6th - Cheri & Martin
7th - Colin & Julie
[LEG TWO]
1st - Dirk & Roger
2nd - Norman & Trevor (Yielded by Andy & Shane)
3rd - Dave & Jeff
4th - Andy & Shane
5th - Cheri & Martin
6th - Dean & Stephen
7th - Colin & Julie