Chestermerians are being invited out to party for a purpose at the fourth annual Rotary Club of Chestermere Amazing Race on Sept. 23.
“It’ll be good time for everybody who comes out to run the race, have the adventure, win the prizes,” said Rotarian Jason McKee.
The amazing race is the sole fundraiser for the Rotary Club which uses the proceeds to support both local and global initiatives.
Locally, the race will be supporting Rotary as they work to get a water fountain installed at the bike park.
Globally, the club is continuing to support the disaster relief organization Shelter Box Canada.
“Just an absolutely brilliant program,” said McKee.
ShelterBox Canada provides tents large enough to house a family of eight, along with disaster supplies such as clean water and filters, food rations, and basic medical supplies to disaster zones.
“ShelterBox Canada provides relief in the form of shelter, water, food, medicine,” he said.
“At the end of the day we’ll eventually save some lives through the program,” said McKee.
Given the devastation being caused by Hurricane’s Harvey and Irma, Shelter Box is a particularly relevant relief group for the club to be supporting.
Along with supporting great causes, contestants in the Amazing Race will also get an exciting and fun experience.
As a recurring event, organizers are always working to improve and invigorate the race so it is fun for racers both new and old.
To that end, the race this year has been shifted to the afternoon.
“We changed the start time,” said McKee.
“A lot of people like to have their Saturday morning to relax so instead of the 8 a.m. start time we’re staring at 1 p.m.” he said.
As always, the race will start at John Peake park where participants need to sign in at noon.
Despite being moved to the afternoon the race will still provide the same adventure and challenge as past years, with small changes to keep it exciting for returning teams.
McKee said that most of the challenges this year have the option to either complete the adventurous path or the puzzle path.
While he didn’t want to give anything away, McKee suggests that teams bring their bathing suits with them on race day.
“Prepare to be in the water,” said McKee.
With the two paths available at each challenge, McKee said that the race is accessible to people of all abilities.
“We’re trying to keep it as open as possible,” he said, “we want to be very inclusive.”
Another change this year is set for after the race. The awards dinner is being held indoors at the Whitecappers Club.
“We’ll be out of the weather,” he said.
The race does go rain or shine, only being rescheduled if the weather conditions become dangerous for contestants.
To register a team go online to www.rotarychestermere.org/SitePage/amazing-race/welcome.
There is room for 20 teams to register, with the first 20 to sign up and pay their $200 entry fee getting into the race.
While there is still room to sign up, the race card can fill up fast. If one misses out on the race this year, McKee recommends donating to support the race instead.
