Thursday, July 29, 2010

Adventure Race Experience

On Saturday, July 10th World of Difference co-hosted the first ever Women's Adventure Race in Provo, Utah. This race consisted of three legs: canoe, bike and run/walk. Each team consisting of two to three individuals had to complete the entire race as a team, and during each of the legs, there were team challenges that had to be completed (for example, small relays, games, etc. to learn about or benefit Africa). Read Adventure Race participant Charity's personal experience below:

The Adventure Race for Africa was very fun and a good idea for fundraising, and I can’t wait to be part of it next year. I was lucky and got to be a part of the race.

How it worked was there were teams of two to three people and you had the choice to do a 7-mile bike ride, canoe a mile, or run a 5K. Our Team (#174) chose to do the bike ride first, and that took us on the Provo River Trail. At the half way mark of all the obstacles, each team had to complete a challenge. The bike challenge was to climb up a slide, do the monkey bars, climb through a tube, and go down the slide, as well as put together three school kits, helping a kid get his Eagle Scout. After this there was a ride back to the start. Following that, we did the 5K. I had a hard time running, so we walked most of it. When we got to the halfway mark at the water station I had to blind fold my partner, turn her around 7 times, and tell her where to point to Kenya on a map. Next we had to run as fast as we could back to the start to begin the last leg of the Canoe Race. We hopped in our canoe and paddled as fast as we could to the halfway mark. Our challenge there was to fill a bucket full of water and walk the course that was laid out for us. This challenge was directed towards the Kenyan people who have to fight for clean water and how we, as Americans, use up to 10 gallons of water JUST when we shower. This gave us an idea of how fortunate we really are, and how grateful we should be for the things that we have.

After our final challenge, we hopped back into our canoe and paddled back to home base before running as fast as we could to our bonus challenge. Promoting the Grassroots Foundation for Soccer, we had to kick a soccer ball in one minute into the goal with two goalies blocking the goal. My partner did awesome and got it right in!!! We dashed to the finish line and everyone was cheering for us!! Following the race, there was a Kenyan band playing drums, and there were delicious bagels, bananas and water. The fastest people were given awards, and there was also a table set up to purchase goods from Kenya. Overall it was a very fun experience and I am going to train for next year so we can be the first ones and I can run the 5K.

If you were at the race and have any pictures or memories to share, please email them to blog moderator Dori at dori_jennings [at] yahoo [dot] com.

1 comment:

Dori Jennings said...

Thanks for sharing this with us, Charity! It sounds like it was a blast, and I definitely want to join in the fun next time!!!