Something amazing
Local event inspired by popular television show
If you saw small groups of people running around downtown Sydney around lunchtime on Saturday, you may have seen the Amazing Race: Waterfront Edition in action.
About 11 teams registered Saturday morning to participate in the Sydney version of the popular TV game show that was being held as an event during the Sydney Waterfront Festival.
For participant Dale Colbourne, the Sydney event was all about having some fun on the weekend.
“We just thought we would participate and have some fun — we saw it online and we decided to join.”
For organizers, it was a great way to add an extra event to a brand new festival.
“Today there was actually less events than other days so myself and the other summer students just took it upon ourselves to put a community event in to make the brochure look a little fuller,” said organizer Kelsie Ferguson just before the event began at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
For something that was organized quickly, Ferguson said she was surprised at the good turnout.
“We got a lot more than we expected because it was put together almost at the last minute.”
Like the TV show, participants race from place to place but they must first figure out clues to the locations.
“There’s going to be a few challenges where it’s physical,” said Ferguson. “They’re going to have to put on the uniform at the fire station and they’re going to have to do it in a certain amount of time in order to get their clue to the next challenge. Some are mental challenges where they have to match important dates with a historical event — some you have to dance and some you have to sing — there’s a very large variety.”
Claude Nearing worked as a segment producer on the “Amazing Race Canada” when it came to Cape Breton last year. He was on the waterfront Saturday watching the participants. He said he’s not surprised people are doing their own versions of the show because it is a popular program. The televised Cape Breton episode, which went to the Canadian Coast Guard College, the Highland Village, Christmas Island post office and Louisbourg, had exceptional ratings.
“That episode had an excellent viewership,” said Nearing. “Usually we show at an average of three million people per week and ours was closer to four. It really promotes Cape Breton tourist-wise because you can go on a computer any given day and still see the show that we had in Cape Breton Island.”
While the televised version may have had an element of glamour, he said the local version is all about having fun.
“This is fantastic — I read about it in the paper this morning and I came down. This is excellent — they’re really excited about it and they love it and plan on doing it as a yearly event.”