The MOST Amazing Race

More photos are up!

2008-08-05T12:21:00.001-06:00

Racer Recap

2008-07-30T08:06:00.004-06:00

Thanks to Scott Moe of the Chester Copperpots team for this great race recap!

Hello all! This is Chester Copperpots coming to you. We won't go into heavy detail of the morning qualifier, but let's just say, we'll never eat another choco-covered hot dog again.

Well, our race is over. Another fun year. We thought we'd provide a 'short' re-cap of how our race went. This is our experience throughout the day. We earned a fast forward prior to the race. A fast forward allowed us to skip one challenge throughout the day. We had decided going into the race, that no matter what happens, we'll be skipping the food challenge. Last year, the food challenge was consuming a full bowl of the absolute hottest salsa you could imagine. It was not fun. Based on this, skipping the food challenge seemed like a no-brainer.

So the race started out at the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis. Twenty-five teams were set to go as we began our journey. Our first task was using a rope to lasso your partner's foot from about eight to ten feet away. Swanson sat down on a chair, while Moe worked the lasso. It took us about five or six tries to get it right. We ran to the judges to get our next clue.

Our next challenge lead us a few blocks away to the Mill City Museum. We had to make something like a transforming brochure. The original picture on the front was of the museum. By using only scissors and vague instructions we had to make that picture transform into an explosion. We did this fairly quickly. A big shout-out to whoever that was who helped us by showing us what to do! Arts and crafts are not our strong suit.

From there we had to race upstairs to the observation deck of the museum and answer three questions. This was pretty easy and we quickly received our next clue.

Our travels then took us to Splatball, Inc. on University Ave near the U of M campus. We had to put on helmets and enter a firing zone and hit three targets per team member. About a minute later, we were out of there and on our way to Historic Fort Snelling via light rail. The clue leading us to Fort Snelling ended with a cryptic, "rest your legs now because you'll need them for the next challenge..."

Well, we arrived at the Fort Snelling light rail station and exited the platform with most of the leaders. We had no clue as to where we were going from there. We started following other teams and we kept going and going and going, almost Energizer-style. It literally was over two miles to the site through rough terrain. Once at the fort, we were given four questions to answer. We raced around the fort looking for things like, 'how long did Dred Scot live at the Fort?' The answers came quickly and we were given our next clue. Unfortunately, this clue was leading us to Minnehaha Falls, which meant another long trip, uphill this time, back to the light rail station.

Eventually, we got back to the station and met up with some other teams that were also waiting for the light rail. We talked and figured that we were in the second group of teams making our way to the Falls.

Once at the Minnehaha Falls Park, we had to find a specific garden. This was also an arduous task as we sprinted around the park and down at least 200 steps. We reached our destination and discovered that we had to throw a lacrosse ball to each other all the way down the field into the net. I think we finished this rather quickly with only a few dropped shots that cost us maybe a minute or two.

After that, we had to sprint, walk, and crawl back up those 200 steps to the main park. We had to hop on these side-by-side bicycles and make our way around the park solving trivia questions. Three of the four questions were easy, the fourth took us a little bit longer and we used some outside help to verify the answer.

We received our next clue leading us to an international market on Lake Street and 10th Ave. The clue said, 'be ready for a cultural experience.' This definitely sounded like a food challenge and we were prepared to use our fast forward to skip right passed this one.

When we arrived at the market, a ton of other teams were there waiting for their honey dew herbal tea with tapioca bubbles at the bottom of them. Tea? Who can't do that? Moe raced over to where the teams were drinking their teas and discovered that every single team was just downing them so fast. The decision was made to keep the fast forward and do this seemingly easy challenge.

We took our teas and sat at a table right in front of the judges. Every last ounce needed to be downed. Every last tapioca bubble needed to be consumed. We arrived at this challenge as the 12th team. The 13th team arrived at the challenge about two minutes after we started our teas. They were out of there, literally, within minutes. We just couldn't drink those things! Swanson was getting very upset wondering why we just didn't skip that challenge to begin with like we had planned. Moe didn't have an answer. Team after team kept arriving, and finishing well before we did. At one point, Swanson had had enough. He raced to the bathroom and started purging the tea from his system. Moe (and the judges) could only laugh as Moe shoveled some of his tea and bubbles into Swanson's almost empty cup. So yes, Swanson did have to drink a little more than Moe, and yet, he never realized it at the time.

Finally...FINALLY...we finished those dang teas leaving the market in somewhere around 16th or 17th place. Moe said that no matter what the next challenge was, we were going to skip it. We opened our clue to reveal our next location as Bryant Lake Bowl.

Bowling?! How the HECK can we skip a bowling challenge? We're both in a bowling league and it's literally right up our alley. We headed off to the bowling alley and were shocked to discover every single team that had passed us, and MORE, were still at the challenge. It wasn't normal bowling however. If it had been, we'd be able to handle it because one of us has a 200 bowling average. We won't get into details of which team member has that average, but as a hint I'll say it's "me" with an "o" in the middle.

Anyway, this challenge had teams facing away from the pins and throwing the ball between their legs granny-style. Teams had to get a strike or spare to move on, and each team member had to do it. Every team was having so much trouble. We decided then to use our fast forward and skip this challenge. Heart-wrenching to leave the alleys, but it was the right choice.

Our next clue lead us to the Target Center. Once inside the arena, we had to decide between each member singing the national anthem, precisely with no mistakes; or, running throughout the stadium, looking on the back of seats for small written words.Once the teams find four words, they rush back to the judges and give them the words.

Swanson was gung-ho for the anthem challenge, but Moe was confident he didn't know all the words, verbatim. So we did the word challenge. It took us two times around the stadium to discover the words, but we got them and raced out of there.

Our last clue told us to high tail it back to the finish line at the Stone Arch Bridge. It was about twelve blocks way by foot. I'll politely, and tongue-in-cheekly, say, we "raced" back to the finish line. At one point throughout the day we were in 17th or so place. We arrived at the end, finishing in 8th. A top ten finish!

Can't wait to do it again… Moe

Race results are in

2008-07-30T08:03:00.003-06:00

Check out the Race Results page for all the latest! More pictures should be coming in the next day or two.

Register today!

2008-07-17T07:54:00.002-06:00

Yikes! Sorry it has been so long since the last post. We've been busy finalizing details for The MOST Amazing Race! Things are coming together nicely. We're excited to meet the 70 teams who have registered so far.

A friendly reminder to everyone that today is the last day that the registration fees are $50 per team. Tomorrow the fee goes up to $75. So if you're thinking about registering, do it today!

Race Registration Starts Today!

2008-06-13T07:55:00.002-06:00

Find an adventurous teammate and get registered for the race! Check out this link to get started....

Past Racers Chime In

2008-06-05T07:50:00.003-06:00

Check out some comments from past racers!

“Awesome. Extremely well organized, variety of challenges, and some really great contestants.”– Jason Martin of Stay Classy Minneapolis

“A great day of racing and fun!”– Tammy and Michael Guinee of Racing for the King“

“We are still talking about it with friends and family!”– Tracy Loucks of Mudd

"I had such agreat time! It was one of the most memorable things I have ever done and it feels great to know it was for such a great cause. I am already looking forward to next year!!" – Melissa Sinn of Pocket Rockets

“So incredibly fun – even if we didn’t have a shot at the top spot.”– Andrea Long of Skinned Knees

“That was one of the best fundraisers I have ever been involved with! The idea was good, but you guys did such a great job putting it together.”– Bobbi Jo del Villar of No More Hunger

“I thought the event was a blast - both as a participant in the qualifying round and as a volunteer. And it was a really inspired idea for a fundraiser. Thanks for putting on a great event!”– Tracy Bensend of 40 and Feisty

2007 Race Wrap Up

2008-05-28T14:06:00.002-06:00

Some of you have requested to see the wrap up we put together of last year's race. Check out this PDF.

Also, do you have a cool idea for a race challenge? Tell us about it! Who knows, your brilliant idea might be part of an upcoming race.

The 2008 MOST Amazing Race

2008-05-20T08:28:00.005-06:00

Hey everyone! We're gearing up again for The MOST Amazing Race, and we're really excited for some new changes this year.

The biggest change comes in the format of the qualifying race. The qualifying race will be held the morning of July 26, the same day as the final race. We understand that weekends in the summer fill up fast, so we hope this change will allow more teams to participate.

We want this blog to be a place for you to share ideas, comments, suggestions, and even interact with other racers.

We're looking forward to the start of race registration on June 14. Be sure to check back regularly for updates!

Final Race Video is Here!

2007-08-10T08:56:00.001-06:00

Thank you for your patience...we were a little busy this past week with bridge collapse relief efforts. Hope you enjoy it!

Race clues and more photos

2007-07-25T15:29:00.001-06:00

You asked for it, so here are the official race clues. Check out this PDF to see what challenges the amazing racers conquered.

Also, I uploaded more photos to our slideshow. Enjoy!

Salvation Army on Ice Contest Answers

2007-07-25T08:44:00.001-06:00

Here are the answers to the four questions for our Salvation Army on Ice contest.

Question #1
The address of the race starting line multiplied by the number of racers and divided by KOOL's radio frequency. The answer should be rounded to the nearest whole number.

Answer #1
4200 x 34 racers / 107.9 radio frequency = 1,323.4 rounded to 1,323

Question #2
What do these three people have in common?
-General William Booth, founder of The Salvation Army
-Sir George Darwin, son of Charles Darwin (author of "Origin of the Species")
-Alexander Stewart, Wisconsin member of the US House of Representatives

Answer #2
All three men died in 1912.

Question #3
What do these three have in common?
-A Salvation Army Crest
-Abbott Northwestern Hospital
-A track meet

Answer #3
All have shots.

Question #4
Like Metallica, I'm heavy metal.When I go down the street, sometimes I receive a standing ovation.

Answer #4
Big SAL, our giant kettle (8 foot!) float

Final Results

2007-07-23T09:58:00.000-06:00

We had such a blast on Saturday and hope all the racers and spectators did too! Thanks again to everyone for their generous support--it is your support that allows The Salvation Army to help those who need it most.

For a cool photo slideshow and the final team standings, check out this link http://www.thesalarmy.org/raceresults07.htm.

More photos (and we hope video) will be coming later this week. Email Kristy if you have photos or fun stories from Saturday that you'd like to share. Again, thanks to everyone who made the 2007 MOST Amazing Race possible!

Results coming soon!

2007-07-23T08:07:00.000-06:00

We're putting together photos and video from Saturday's MOST Amazing Race. More information will be coming soon.

In the meantime, congratulations to Team Waler, the $5,000 grand prize winners!

The Salvation Army on Ice--Question #4

2007-07-19T14:55:00.000-06:00

Question #4
Like Metallica, I'm heavy metal.
When I go down the street, sometimes I receive a standing ovation.

Have you figured out the correct answers to all four questions? We hope so. Just follow the rules below to enter!

Contest rules:
-Entries must include your name, phone number and email address along with the answers to all four questions.
-Email entries to Kristy at kristy.pluim@usc.salvationarmy.org by Friday, July 20 at 12pm in order to be eligible. Answers may also be submitted on Saturday, July 21 between 5-7pm at the KOOL108 RiverBlast tent (near the stage).
-Contestants with all four correct answers will be entered into a random drawing for two round trip Icelandair tickets to anywhere in Europe. The drawing will be held on July 21. You don't need to be present to win.
-Must be 18 years old to enter.
-Salvation Army employees and their immediate families are not eligible to participate.

Torchlight Parade

2007-07-19T07:55:00.001-06:00

Check out these pictures of the racers riding our "Big SAL" float in last night's Aquatennial Torchlight Parade!

Team Two of Three

Teams AJ & Cal and Minivan

Team Slightly Green Bananas

The Salvation Army on Ice--Question #3

2007-07-19T07:38:00.000-06:00

Question #3
What do these three have in common?
A Salvation Army Crest
Abbott Northwestern Hospital
A track meet

The Salvation Army on Ice--Question #2

2007-07-18T07:45:00.000-06:00

Have you figured out the answer to question #1 yet? To clarify, the "racers" from question #1 are those who will be racing on Saturday.

Here's question #2. Good luck!

Question #2
What do these three people have in common?
General William Booth, founder of The Salvation Army
Sir George Darwin, son of Charles Darwin (author of "Origin of the Species")
Alexander Stewart, Wisconsin member of the US House of Representatives

The Salvation Army on Ice

2007-07-17T07:20:00.000-06:00

Check back here each day and answer all four questions for your chance to win two Iceland Air tickets to Europe.

Question #1
The address of the race starting line multiplied by the number of racers and divided by KOOL's radio frequency. The answer should be rounded to the nearest whole number.

Contest rules:
-Entries must include your name, phone number and email address along with the answers to all four questions.
-Email entries to Kristy at kristy.pluim@usc.salvationarmy.org by Friday, July 20 at 12pm in order to be eligible. Answers may also be submitted on Saturday, July 21 between 5-7pm at the KOOL108 RiverBlast stage.
-Contestants with all four correct answers will be entered into a random drawing for the airline tickets on July 21.
-Must be 18 years old to enter.
-Salvation Army employees and their immediate families are not eligible to participate.

Two more teams make the cut

2007-07-13T08:53:00.001-06:00

We're excited to announce that two more teams have fundraised their way to the final race. A special thanks to those teams--Adventure Guys and Team Tower, who each raised more than $1,500 to make it into the final race on July 21. Way to go!

Teams should keep fundraising for another week...there's still the opportunity to win a fast-forward. The top 3 fundraising teams will earn a fast-forward, allowing them to skip any one challenge along the race route.

And don't forget that the top fundraising team (who isn't the grand prize winner) will win an awesome prize as well--two Iceland Airline tickets.

Thanks to everyone who has been a part of The MOST Amazing Race. We here at The Salvation Army are humbled by your generosity and willingness to help us in the fight against homelessness and hunger!

Qualifying Race Video

2007-06-28T14:08:00.001-06:00

Hey guys, we finished the video from the qualifying race last Saturday. Check it out and enjoy!

http://thesalarmy.org/QualifyingRace384K.wmv

Qualifying Race Photos

2007-06-25T11:49:00.000-06:00

Click on the link below to see some photos from Saturday. You can find them on the home page of our website too. Watch the blog for the video--it'll be coming later this week.

http://www.thesalarmy.org/qualifier/index.html

Final Qualifying Times

2007-06-25T09:18:00.000-06:00

You asked for it! Here's a list of how all 38 teams finished. Pictures from Saturday will be posted this afternoon.

As you know, 15 teams qualified based on time. The 23 teams who did not qualify still have the opportunity to compete in the final race based on fundraising. Those teams must raise $1500 (minimum) to be considered. Of those teams raising $1500 or more, the top 5 fundraising teams will be selected to compete in the final race.

If you still want to be involved, you can always help as a volunteer on July 21. Contact Julie (julie.orlando@usc.salvationarmy.org) if you're interested. Thanks again. Great job everyone!

Slightly Green Bananas 19:43:00
Skinned Knees 20:23:16
Team Mullen 20:53:25
Haroldetta and Kumar 21:35:30
Inagi Nashi 21:59:40
Team Waler 23:09:02
Minivan 23:51:18
Chipi Chipi 23:56:67
Pocket Rockets 24:04:90
North Shore AR 24:27:05
Sizzling Sisters 25:35:02
Two of Three 25:44:81
AJ & Cal 25:47:78
Stay Classy, MPLS 26:23:41
40 Horns & The Tooter 26:35:89

Jarindy 26:50:59
Racing for the King 26:50:59
2 Girls and a Bus Pass 27:06:77
Go Two Girls 27:07:97
The Pink Ladies 27:39:78
The Human Fund 28:18:24
Adventure Guys 29:11:26
Crash and Burn 29:27:73
Family Matters 29:50:56
Minnesota Mel-Ice 29:59:45
We Like Ike 30:00:22
The Bennies 30:14:84
The Sissies 30:18:56
Happy Wanderers 31:13:75
Ready, Set, Merlot 31:23:00
Sky Champions 34:43:45
Rapido! Rapido! 35:29:38
40ish and Feisty 36:25:61
The Spa Queens 36:27:50
Team Tower 37:11:85
Two Sisters 38:33:13
Team Mommy 45:21:07
Rachie and Nomie 47:48:11

Qualifying Race this Saturday

2007-06-20T11:52:00.000-06:00

Is everyone ready to race this Saturday? We've planned some fun and exciting challenges! The 42 teams who registered for The MOST Amazing Race will be competing to be one of the final teams. Those teams who don't qualify on Saturday still have the opportunity to be one of the 20 race teams...they just need to earn their way by fundraising.

Speaking of fundraising...teams have raised more than $16,000 so far! Did you know that the $200 that each team is raising will provide a week of shelter and 20 meals for a person? Cool, huh? As of yesterday, Team Tower took over as the first place fundraising team, raising more than $1,100!

For each team who qualifies for the final race, we're working on creating a web page with their photo and bio information. Should be cool. Finally, here's some neat facts about our teams.

The average age of the racers is 33. The oldest is 52. Youngest is 19.
10 are husband-wife teams
7 are sister (or sister-in-law) teams
16 teams are just friends
4 are co-worker teams
3 are teams who are dating
1 team is engaged
1 is a nephew/uncle team

See you on Saturday!

MOST Amazing Race Update

2007-06-01T12:42:00.000-06:00

There's still time to register your team for The MOST Amazing Race! So far, 29 teams have signed up. Our fundraising total is more than $8,000! Team Mullen has maintained their lead by raising $525, but there are other teams that are hot on their heels.

In each post we're going to share some interesting race facts:

Currently the average age of race participants is 34.
One participant lived in Kenya for six years, traveling all over the country and going on many safaris.
Last year's race winners, the Adventure Guys, are back this year to defend their title.

Stay tuned...more to come.

The MOST Amazing Race Registration Kickoff

2007-05-23T09:52:00.000-06:00

Thanks to everyone who came to the Mall of America on Saturday to register for The MOST Amazing Race! We had a lot of fun and hope you did too. Camp Shamineau and KOOL 108 did an awesome job with the challenges and prizes. A special congratulations goes out to 'The Sissies', the team who won the Timberwolves autographed basketball.

For those of you who couldn't make it to the mall, thanks for signing up online. There are 20 teams registered at this point, and a bunch of teams have already begun fundraising. We're off to a good start with more than $1,000 raised so far. Team Mullen is the team to beat with $400 raised to date.

Here are some pictures from the kickoff on Saturday. Feel free to leave any comments...we'd love to hear from you!