Last week 44 members of Events & Adventures Santa Clara participated in the club’s Amazing Race event.  Members drew colored armbands from a hat, and the colors that were drawn determined the teams. The groups then raced from Shoreline Lake to Rengstorff Park in Mountain View. We made a four-mile trek using three different modes of transportation, over land and water, and going outside our comfort zones while we worked as a team to win prizes and an epic BBQ.

With seven or eight people on each team, and other members stationed throughout Mountain View California, the race began! Five teams played “Peddle Boat Tag”. Two members at a time churned across the lake, and once on the other side, one member of the team had to exit and tag the bushes on the shore. The duo peddled back to the dock, gave another set of teammates their life jackets and joined their group in cheering on the members who were still racing.

Once all members of a team had finished the peddle boat leg, they were directed to a bicycle waiting by the dock. At that point, the entire team ran to the “Bicycle Basketball” station. There, one-by-one each member had to try and throw a basketball into their team’s basket while riding their bicycle around the court.  Once this task was completed by all the members of a team, the group was given a clue that they had to decipher. It led them to a bridge and there, a club member stationed there handed the team another clue. Once solved, this clue told the teams to follow the edge of a golf course to the park’s kite flying area.

When contestants arrived at the kite flying area, they were met by another member who gave each team a kite-making kit. Each team was required to build the kite as quickly as possible. Once the kite flew in the air for two minutes, the member who was supervising gave the team another envelope with their next clue, as well as a list of tasks that they could accomplish along the way for time deduction bonuses. Teams had to take a group selfie outside the gates of the park, take pictures with any Google self-driving cars that they saw, and attempt to form the word “Google” in front of one of the Google signs using only their bodies—all as we raced to our Events & Adventures chapter’s favorite bar and volleyball venue. Once there, another member made sure that each team hit the volleyball over the net ten times without it hitting the sand before they could be given the next clue.

The next clue contained a multitude of riddles that directed the teams through several streets until they came to another park. There, a member was waiting with balloon-covered boards. The teams were then given a blindfold and darts, and while each team member attempted to hit the balloons, their teammates would shout directions to help them aim.  Once a team was ready to move on, they were given the final set of clues which would take the teams to the game’s finish line—Rengstorff Park.

Each member of the team that finished the race the fastest won an Events & Adventures Amazing Race Mountain View water bottle filled with tiny Jelly Belly Champagne Bottles and Pop Rocks. The best prize, however, was all the laughter that ensued at the barbecue that followed the race, as everyone relived the excitement of the day.