Amazing Racers, noble causes
Amazing Race: Heroes Edition to debut July 3
Marielle “Mar” Lyon’s proudest moment as a Toronto Argonauts cheerleader didn’t come when the team won the Grey Cup last year — although that was awesome, she says.
It was when a Grade 12 student wrote to say that because Lyon opened up about her own experience with bullying at a school assembly, she felt for the first time since she started high school that she wasn’t alone.
“I can’t even describe the feeling of what it was like to be on the field when we won Grey Cup, but absolutely nothing beats the feeling of someone saying, ‘You saved my life,’ ” Lyon says.
She and fellow cheerleader Leanne Larsen are among the 10 teams taking part in The Amazing Race Canada: Heroes
Edition, which debuts July 3 at 8 p.m. on CTV. The competitors all have something about them that’s considered heroic, whether they’re first responders, cancer survivors or people who volunteer to help others.
“It took both of us a little while to come up with exactly the wording of why we’re heroes,” Larsen says. But they’ve both been involved for several years with the Argonauts’ bullying prevention program “and it’s a program that’s so near and dear to our hearts, and we absolutely love it.”
It’s especially personal for Lyon, 26, who’s originally from Thunder Bay.
“When (the kids) see me when I walk in, I have my pompoms and my eyelashes and my blond hair, they immediately think, ‘Oh well, she’s a cheerleader. She’s never been through anything hard in her entire life. …’
“It’s cool when I tell them that I struggled when I was younger and I was picked on, that I literally had no friends from Grade 7 to Grade 11, and to see how far I’ve come.”
Larsen, 25, who’s from Oakville, wasn’t bullied, but says she battled self-doubt, shyness and other people telling her she wasn’t good enough before becoming a competitive cheerleader in high school, which led to an all-star team, meeting Lyon and joining the Argos.
There’s another thing the friends are battling as they run The Amazing Race: the perception that cheerleaders are all style, no substance.
“When people see cheerleaders, they focus on the beauty aspect of it,” Larsen says. “They never focus on the athleticism, the strength, the perseverance, the dedication. Always being able to smile and find something to learn and grow from, even if our team is blitzing.
“It’s going to be within our nature to just persevere and keep going, and keep cheering each other on.”
Adds Lyon: “People may look at us and think that we’re not going to be a physical threat, but throw anything at us and we’re going to charge through it. You want me to lift a tractor tire, I’ll do it. I’ve done it before.”
Another all-female GTA team, navy members Zainab Ansari and Monica Demian, is hoping their ability to stay calm and work under pressure will serve them well during the Race.
Ansari, 32, is a naval combat information operator from Hamilton whose 13 years in the navy included a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan. Demian, 23, a naval communicator, was born in Sudan and raised in Markham, and joined the navy five years ago, which is when she and Ansari became fast friends.
Both were raised by single mothers who their daughters say sacrificed a lot for their children and still work hard: Demian’s as a parking enforcement officer; Ansari’s as a border services agent.
“They continuously put us before themselves. They gave up their dreams just to make sure we live ours,” Demian says. And they still don’t put themselves first, says Ansari, whose parents were born in India. So making their mothers proud — and taking care of them financially if they win the $250,000 cash prize — is goal No. 1 for the friends. They also want to represent Canadians, visible minorities and strong women. Even though they work in a male-dominated field, they say they both feel free to be themselves.
“If nothing else comes out of us being on this show (it’s) that visual of two women serving and in uniform, and clearly doing something that they’re passionate about and that they love, and they’re happy,” Ansari says. Amazing Race Heroes Edition: the facts Ten teams are competing for a $250,000 cash prize, vehicles, trips around the world and more when The Amazing Race Canada kicks off its sixth season next month with a “Heroes Edition.”
Besides friends Leanne Larsen and Mar Lyon, and Zainab Ansari and Monica Demian, the competitors include another GTA team, friends Joseph Truong of Mississauga and Akash Sidhu of Brampton, who met volunteering at a food bank and started businesses that provide education, employment opportunities and internet access to vulnerable people.
Other teams include: brother and sister RCMP officers Taylor and Courtney Callens of B.C.; siblings Martina and Phil Seo of North Vancouver, who volunteer with children; Alberta friends Nancy Csabay, a professional barrel racer and breast cancer survivor, and Mellisa Hollingsworth, a skeleton racer; best friends Dylan Elias and Kwame Osei of Fort McMurray, who mentor youth through sport; cancer survivor Todd Kirk and his girlfriend Anna Holtby of Edmonton; military pilot instructors Corey “Chewy” Liddle and Mark “Happy” LaVerdiere, who are stationed in Saudi Arabia and are from Stoney Creek and Orillia, respectively; and nurse Courtney Berglind and her firefighter boyfriend Adam Kovacs from Calgary.