It was fun to hear an 8 year veteran of the race state to her mom that “I think this was the best race yet!” By changing the route and the challenges each year, our goal is to keep things fresh and exciting and I think this is a great testimony that it doesn’t really ever get old! I know my own kids don’t want to miss it and the stories keep coming over the year of “Kinship’s Amazing Race experiences” they have had!
June 6, 2014 dawned a little chilly and with rain off and on all week and mud plentiful, it always makes for a little anxiety with an outdoor event, but we were thankful to have a nice weather window of opportunity to complete the race!
2014 gave us 23 teams registered; 13 in competitive and 10 in Family each in their own colorful team t-shirts creating a race rainbow look that is unique to Kinship’s race. We loved seeing local businesses and churches sponsoring teams and lots of 4H groups seizing the opportunity to do something fun that also supports youth mentoring! Of course many of the teams have veteran “race team” members that come back every year as well as our own Kinship teams! After team photos were done by the Strands and team intros by Perry Miller we were ready to roll with the competitive division going first followed 15 minutes later by the family teams….
The race opened with the Cargill sponsored corn challenge where one team member had to find a small bead in a kid swimming pool half filled with corn….not an easy task but a perfect challenge to start with a bit of a stagger….success sent teams off to the next Kinship sponsored Buddy Walker challenge in which 2 team members had to use team work to cross part of the park football field on “buddy walkers” together and 2 other team members had to do the return trip…left, right….I said right…!!! J On to the “Save the Ducks” challenge in the park duck pond where canoers were given a butterfly net to “rescue” 4 rubber duckies floating in the pond before returning to shore. Teams continued North to the Chahinkapa Zoo challengewhere zoo staff generously allowed (ok, required) a team member to keep a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach on their face for 10 seconds or take a 5 minute delay… did I say ew…! Kathy never disappoints…..Most people are pretty happy to pick up their bikes at this point and finish the race on wheels! The next challenge at the Ox Cart Trail Park was a Breckenridge Police Department sponsored Climbing Wall challenge where a nimble team member had to climb the wall and shout the names of his team from the top before descending….on to the Com Del challenge at Rotary Park…an amazing Box Maze that required the entire team to crawl thru, one member completing the whipped cream bubble gum challenge half way through. (Find bubble gum on a plate full of whip cream using only your face and blow a bubble before moving on). The maze was dark with dead ends and things like silly string and squirt guns shooting you out of nowhere…definitely a favorite with the kids on the teams! When the whole team got thru you were sent on to the Breckenridge Bremer Bank Challenge where one person from your team had to count a jar of coins and get the correct total or go to the back of the line…easier said than done under pressure!! On to the Thrifty Horizon Challenge where one team member had to match 5 pairs of shoes out of a HUGE shoe pile and wearing one pair, go to the formal dress rack and find a dress to wear….that they would finish the race in!! Oh the lovely gowns that came biking over the finish line on guys or gals were priceless! The last challenge was a Breckenridge Fire Department challenge. One person was required to put on Bunker gear, unroll a hose 50 feet, spray a basketball off of a cone, roll the hose back up and leave the Bunker gear ready for the next team….finally teams were off to the finish line…to medals, laughter, photos, prizes and finally a post race picnic to enjoy with team members and anyone who followed the team with cameras and encouragements!
The 2014 Challenge Sponsors are always amazing and create a never the same unique course that the teams did great with! Thank you for the fun and brilliant challenges! The Kinship Board does an amazing job manning the different areas and all the coordination that takes! Kinship is so blessed by its board of directors!
We are thankful to our 2014 T-shirt and Medal sponsors that are sported on the backs of the t-shirts: Ag Assembly Services, Bremer Bank, Cargill, Minn-Kota Ag Products, Ottertail Power and Youth and Community Prevention Coalition
Top 3 teams in the competitive division were: Team Rothsay, Bank of the West and the Gladiators.
Top 3 teams in the family division were: Team Bremer, the Funner Runners and the Blue Gills.
All teams are winners however, and were such great sports. Each received medals and thanks to our generous prize sponsor this year were able to all go home with a prize to split between the team. The biggest winner is Kinship however, which raised NEARLY $8,000 for youth mentoring thru the teams working to raise entry fees for the race! All year kids are able to have mentors and benefit greatly from that relationship as a result of every person who participated in some way in Kinship’s Amazing Race!!
We hope you will join us next year for Kinship’s 9th Annual Amazing Race on June 5, 2014 starting at the Hughes Shelter in Chahinkapa Park!
Thank you to our 2014 Prize Sponsors;
Ace Hardware, Action Realtors, Ag Country Farm Credit Services, Bois de Sioux Golf Club, Breckenridge Dairy Queen, Buds, Blossoms & Blessings, Chahinkapa Zoo, Chanhassen Dinner Theater, Cinema 6 Theater, Corner Drug, Dairy Delight, Dekalb-Asgrow Seeds (J. Christensen), Domino’s Pizza, El Toro Mexican Restaurant, Farmer’s Union Oil of Southern Valley, Fargo Air Museum, Fargo Force, F-M Red hawks, Giant Snacks, Hairetage Hallmark, Hu Hot Mongolian Grill, Le Mar Photography , Lovin- Nutrition, Minnesota Twins, NDSCS Alumni Foundation, NDSCS Athletic Department, OSPTI, Pebble Lake Golf Club, Pizza Hut, Red River Valley & Western Railroad, Red River Valley Fair Board, Jill Roisom, Sam’s Club, Sanford Health, Smith Motors, Snap Fitness, State Farm Insurance – Durlyn Herman, Subway, Terrace Lanes, Thrifty White Drug, Thunder Road, Trollwood Performing Arts School, Wahpeton Drug & Gift, Wahpeton Floral, Wahpeton Parks & Recreation – Wayne Beyer, Walmart
Go to our rwkinship facebook page and like us to see team pictures and challenge pics from our 2014 Amazing Race!!