Soccer, Spanish trip up police duo in tight race
In one of the tightest finishes in the three seasons of The Amazing Race Canada, Dana Hayward and Amanda Johnston were just edged out at the Pit Stop by fellow police officers Brian and Cynthia Boyd.
Dana and Amanda’s loss came on the Puente de la Mujer, a striking footbridge in Buenos Aires. The friends and members of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary were contenders in the competition with more than $ 1 million in prizes up for grabs, but a soccer challenge tripped up their chances. I caught up with them in Toronto for a quick chat about their experience.
Q What was the toughest thing on the Race?
A Dana: Probably the last leg. We were so hungry. We were dehydrated. We hadn’t slept. It was very stressful. We were at the soccer challenge for four hours struggling to get through it, then we had to run to catch a cab to get to the next challenge at the restaurant. We weren’t retaining any of the Spanish words on the menus. It was like it was going in one ear and out the other. That was the hardest one, to watch each other and not to be able to help each other.
Q Amanda, can you take us to the bridge? It might have been editing, but it looked pretty close in the run to the Pit Stop.
A Amanda It was actually very close. When we left the restaurant. We knew ( fellow competitors) Nic and Sabrina had taken a penalty. We were hoping to beat that penalty, but we didn’t realize the other teams were still at the dance challenge. We got dropped off at the location. As we are running ... toward ( host) Jon ( Montgomery at the finish mat), we see Cynthia and Brian on the other side of the bridge, and they actually started running toward us because they couldn’t find Jon. So when they saw us running, they turned around and kept going went back to where the original spot was, so they did just actually just get there.
Q Would you do it again?
A Amanda: Oh, 100 per cent! Without a doubt, yeah.
Q What was the high point for you?
A Amanda I think the whole Race was a great experience. There were a few episodes where you could see we were emotional. It wasn’t because we were tired or wanted to give up; it was always tears of joy. We were so proud of each other and what we had accomplished. After those few episodes, we both felt we could do anything. If we had the opportunity, we would do it all again.
Q Has your relationship changed?
A Dana: We were close before, but we are a lot closer now. We didn’t fight or bicker. We were really good with each other. We stuck through everything. Our friendship grew and will grow from here.
Q What do you credit that to? A lot of teams fall into the trap of fighting.
A Amanda: Back in Labrador, Dana and I worked on shift together. Day to day, we go into some pretty stressful situations. We had to rely on each other, we had to trust each other. We can’t turn on each other in high- stress situations because people’s lives depend on it. Our lives depend on it. We knew we had to keep our heads up and push through. Turning on each other isn’t going to get you anywhere. You have to work together.