Montreal has its own amazing, crazy, exhausting race

Montreal has its own amazing, crazy, exhausting race

AL KRATINA
Freelance
Montreal Gazette
Saturday, July 19, 2008

Within moments of starting a real-life version of The Amazing Race, I realize I have made a terrible mistake. I mainly write about film, a career path lending itself more toward wrestling with a stubborn container of Pringles than sprinting around Montreal solving geographic clues.

But, like the team I'm shadowing on a recent Friday morning, I'm determined to test my knowledge of the city, get a much-needed workout, and possibly die a heroic death from exhaustion metres from the finish line.

Hopefully, my passing will serve as an inspiration to those planning to register for the next Amazing Race Montreal, which is on Aug. 3 and is open to the public. Provided the public has, unlike me, a level of fitness above that of a cadaver.

Entrepreneur Mark Gross started running the races in 2006. They emulate the popular reality TV show in which pairs of contestants race around the world in a hybrid scavenger hunt/marathon, fueled by adrenaline, competitiveness, and the pure vitriol of their endless bickering.

Amazing Race Montreal is not as cutthroat, but no less harried. Teams must solve clues about Montreal history and trivia, race to locations on foot or by bus and métro, and complete challenges or tasks before being given the next clue.

The races can last anywhere from three to six hours, and participants pay $65 to $175, depending on the complexity of the race. Corporations often book races as team-building exercises, and Gross also creates events for birthday and bachelor parties.

"We never use the same course twice," Gross says, though some clues are reused, and I've practically signed a contract in blood preventing me from revealing twists.

"The clues are designed to show off different parts of the city in different ways," says Gross, who attends every race, "but it's not a walking tour."

Which explains why all seven teams in this particular race, a corporate event, hit the ground running.

The four teammates I'm following bolt out of their office boardroom on McGill College Ave. shortly after 10 a.m., leaving a trail of empty Starbucks cups in their wake. They stop only briefly as teammate Alexander White tries to stuff a rival into a utility closet. His colleagues Sylvie Tessier, Andrea Araujo and Thi Vu grab the first clue from a bemused guard at the building's security desk.

The clue points to a statue of Frère André Bessette. But we are a quick jog from the Old Port, where nearly every street corner boasts a bronzed, patrician figure sternly judging passing low-rise jeans.

This sends the team scrambling somewhat aimlessly, barrelling through Dorchester Square in the hopes a monument appearing to honour fallen Canadian troops will reveal itself to be a statue of the French-Canadian priest.

It does not.

"I think I don't really know Montreal," says Tessier, as I nearly vomit into a replica cannon. I should not have eaten Skittles for breakfast.

Gross created the Montreal race as a testament to the reality TV show, which he loves.

He once tried to get on the show, but was thwarted by rules allowing only Americans. So he decided to bring a similar race to Montreal after he had done a whirlwind tour of 21 European countries.

"I had spent all of this time and effort getting to know these foreign lands," Gross says, "but hadn't taken an interest in my own backyard."

So, he became a tourist in his hometown, learning as much as he could about the city's geography and history.

His race allows Montrealers to learn more about their city while gasping for breath and cracking pelvic bones barrelling through métro turnstiles.

Two blocks from The Bay, the team finally finds the right statue. But the competition has already arrived. Before receiving the next clue, the team must complete a brain-teasing puzzle and create a large hoop out of shreds of wet tissue. By the time they've made the hoop, all but one of the other teams is gone.

The next clue leads to St. Joseph's Oratory, where Frère André's heart is enshrined. Less than 45 minutes into what is forecast to be a three-hour event, doubt creeps in. The teammates fear they don't have enough knowledge of the city to carry them to victory. "I don't know anything about Montreal and religion," sighs White, "but I'm originally from North Carolina, so I have a good excuse." However, a well-chosen bus connection helps the team make up ground in the journey from downtown to Côte des Neiges.

At the Oratory, a relay challenge sends each team member up and down the church's 200-odd outdoor stairs. It's exhausting, or at least it looks that way from where I'm crumpled against a planter. The team, energized, finishes quickly and grabs the next clue from one of Gross's staff.

I try and fail to eat an apple while running, as the team searches for a park in Côte des Neiges named after a three-time prime minister and featuring a bust of Philippine national hero Dr. José Rizal. A map posted on a bus shelter helps, and we're soon sprinting to the next challenge. We arrive, surprisingly now in second place.

Each race can have a theme. A recent bachelor party had a Western-movie theme, so members stopped at the Hippodrome on Décarie Blvd. and the Spurs Country Bar on St. Jacques St. This particular race, Gross says, was geared to athletic challenges because the participants are relatively young. "They asked for a physical race," he says, as I dream of rest and potato chips, "and that's what they got."

This becomes clear at the next challenge, the third of six, which involves playing seven-minute soccer games. The winners receive the next clue, but the losing team must play again. And again. By the time our exhausted team leaves, we've dropped to the bottom of the pack.

Several of the teams converge on the métro while travelling to the location suggested by the next clue, which seems relatively simple. Until, of course, everyone else gets off at a different stop.

Gross is sneaky. He throws in clues carefully worded to throw teams off track. My team, shoulders drooping, re-reads the hint. Disaster! Wrong call.

The team is in last place by the fourth pit stop, more than two hours into the race. But an Amazing Race staffer mistakenly gives out the next clue early, and we take off running again. Fortune, it seems, smiles on the team, but not on my lungs, which now seem to be lined with sandpaper.

Tragically, the race clock has now run down, and because they've been promised the afternoon off once the race is complete, the team surrenders, calling Gross and joining other routed and exhausted teams to await the victors. The scent of either defeat or my bleeding sweat glands lingers in the air.

When the winners finally arrive, they regale us with tales of a foreign-language clue hidden in a UPS box, a food preparation challenge in an ethnic restaurant and, finally, the sprint to the finish line at Victoria Square.

Exhausted, Tessier's team takes its defeat in stride. "I'm tired, but it was great," says Vu. Tessier collapses on a bench. "I had lots of fun," he pants. "Call me a calèche." White is somewhat less drained. "We learned stuff about Montreal that none of us probably knew," he says, "had fun, and got lost."

Which, all things considered, is probably more productive than eating Pringles on the couch.

To participate in the next public race on Aug. 3, register by Wednesday at noon. The cost is $135 per person, and includes a three-course meal at the finish line and an STM pass for the day. For more information, visit www.amazingracemontreal.com. Registration is by email at info@amazingracemontreal.com.

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