The Grand Finale - Winner Take All!

Tuesday, January 22 was a great day.  The 2013 Amazing Race finished with one last flurry of activity.  The 14 students that would not be competing in the final race showed up at 10am to assist us with the final preparations.  As we sat in the Steen conference room in the Calvin field-house and unveiled the plan for the final race, many of the students were relieved that they would not be participating.  As leaders, we decided to frame the final race around one of the more innocuous activities of our trip....JEOPARDY.  As we reflected on the trip and the various physical activities, cities visited, and miles traveled, we also decided to add in a variety of physical activities that would replicate the 3 states we spent the majority of our time in: California, Arizona, and Colorado. 

The first round of Jeopardy began with these categories: HELPERS, PEAKS & VALLEYS, I GOT SKILLS, and THE WRITTEN WORD.  All of the students quickly realized in the first round that they would be forced to interpret Dr. Bolt's mix of hilariousness/seriousness/and intelligent wit to decipher the question and come up with the correct answer....in the form of a question, of course. 

Once the first round of Jeopardy was completed, the racers were informed that their first physical challenge would replicate our time in Colorado.  The racers were asked to run a "dog-sled" course which meant one partner pulling the other on a sled in the 10 degree temperature through a course outside of the field-house, reach a certain number of points throwing darts in order to simulate archery, shoot a nerf gun 20 times through a small opening to simulate 1 part of the pentathlon, and also slide their feet(on furniture pads) through a course up and down a carpeted, downhill hallway outside of Amber's office. 

The second round of Jeopardy included these categories: OCEANS, WHO SAID THAT, NEED FOR SPEED, and VANTASTIC.

For the second physical challenge phase, the students were told that they would be simulating our time in Phoenix, AZ.  They were challenged with a rather lengthy Phoenix-style race around campus, a sky-diving challenge, and a Bondurant style challenge.  When we visited the Bob Bondurant school of high performance driving, the students were timed while driving a brand new Chevrolet Camaro around a track lined with cones.  In Phoenix, they were able to do this rather quickly.....on campus, not so much.

In order to simulate the sky-diving challenge, we asked the students to climb the rock wall in the field house, find a parachute, and drop down from the climbing wall.....sounds scary, but it really is quite safe.  See how they did.

As for the Phoenix-style race, we ended up having to throw out the race due to a leadership mistake.  However, the end of the race required racers to eat something not-so-pleasant similar to the scorpion suckers they were required to eat in Phoenix.  Some of the racers were fortunate enough to not have to do this....not all of the racers were so fortunate.

Round 3 of Jeopardy included these categories: OH MY STARS, OLYMPIC SPIRIT, CITY SLICKERS, LEAD, FOLLOW, OR GET OUT OF THE WAY. 

In order to simulate our time in California we set up a "surfing" station, a "stand up paddle-board" station and a "hidden staircases of L.A." race.  To surf, the racers had to balance for 10 seconds, 1 partner standing on 1 foot on an upside-down bosu ball and 1 partner balancing an aerobic step on a 15 pound medicine ball.  Once they completed their 10 seconds on each, they were able to move on to the "paddleboards" which were really just a small scooter powered by a single crutch.  Then, to complete the "hidden staircases" challenge, each team had to find these 5 locations on Calvin's campus, retrieve a small item from each location, and bring the 5 items back to the start.

Finally, when the California race was completed, all 5 teams were sent back to the Jeopardy tables for FINAL JEOPARDY.  The task was to list all 12 teams in the order that they finished along with the names of each individual on the team.  The 5 teams competing were able to wager any amount that they had banked in the previous 3 rounds of jeopardy and the previous 3 physical races. 

Dan & Lauren Turner of Team Graphite prevailed to win the 2nd Calvin College Amazing Race!  Congratulations Turners!