The Annual Chestermere Rotary Club Amazing Race gave Chestermere residents a chance to get involved and bond within their community.
Throughout the course of three hours, 15 teams had to find clues, and race around the city to complete a variety of 12 challenges.
“I think things went great, I really do,” said Chestermere Rotarian Bill Quinney.
“Everybody is having a fun time even though the weather is a little threatening. So far, I haven’t seen anybody who said they fell in the lake,” Quinney said.
“This is our only fundraiser, we spend the whole year getting ready for it. I don’t know whether the community really knows it’s happening,” Quinney said.
He added, “Hopefully by doing the things that we’re doing it will get more exposure. It’s always a challenge for people to know what’s going on in the community.”
The funds raised from the Chestermere Rotary Amazing Race is used for a variety of community and global initiatives.
This includes the International Global Disaster Relief where one family who has lost their home from war or a natural disaster is sheltered by Shelter Box Canada, Chestermere Rotarian Karen McKee said.
“The rest of the money is used for the community,” McKee said.
The Chestermere Rotary Amazing Race also benefits local businesses, by allowing new businesses the opportunity to become challenge hosts to ensure attention is drawn to the up and coming business, she added.
Chestermere Rotarian Ron McKee said, “You can’t underestimate the value of having a competition like this, having so many people go through the local businesses.”
By participating in the Chestermere Rotary Amazing Race everyone comes together as a community and works towards a greater cause, Ron said.
He added, a new Edible City community initiative is in the works, by replacing flowers with fruits and vegetables the community can meet the need for everyone to have enough to eat, and the youth in the community will understand where food comes from.
The Chestermere Rotary Club takes a year organizing the Chestermere Rotary Amazing Race and researching new and interesting challenges the participates would enjoy.
“I was excited about all of the challenges. If we’re not excited about the challenges, why would you be? It’s a challenge as organizers to come up with interesting and fun challenges that are different from previous year that don’t cost anything.” Karen said.
She added, “We’re trying to keep our budget low so ultimately the money can go where it belongs in the community projects.”
Returning champion and team “The Posse” member Jennifer Massig, said she competes in the race because it is important to support a local organization who works year-round to host a fun event.
Massig said the reason for her team’s success is because all the team members participated and used their own strengths to work together.
She added, one of the best parts of the Chestermere Rotary Amazing Race is how her team constantly laughed while competing.
“We laughed a lot at some of the things we did. We built Lego, and did a kid’s jungle gym, things you would never do unless you were in an amazing race,” Massig said.
To become involved in the Chestermere Rotary Club please visit the Chestermere Rotary Club website at https://rotarychestermere.org.
