City Chase
I wasn’t able to participate in City Chase this year, even though last year was a blast and definitely made me want to go back for more. However, I was able to get involved in the annual race by interviewing the winners – both team members live in Kanata.
Here’s my story on their big finish:
A team from Kanata took first place in last Saturday’s annual City Chase and will be representing Ottawa at the national competition this fall.
Mike Reade and Mike Bessuille, friends since attending classes at Earl of March High School together, competed in their 12th City Chase, an urban spinoff of The Amazing Race reality series.
On Saturday, they crossed the finish line in almost the exact same time as last year – but this time, no one was there ahead of them.
The duo, both 39-year-old Bridlewood residents, competed for their fourth year on July 18, taking on 450 other teams to compete for chase points across the city.
Photo courtesy of Mike Reade and Mike Bessuille, winners of the 2009 Ottaw City Chase.
From performing a short children’s play to answering trivia and navigating an obstacle course on a skateboard with one member blindfolded, the team raced around Ottawa to be the first to cross the finish line at Major’s Hill Park.
Within the first hour, the team – known as the Moops, a term from a Seinfeld episode – had about half of the necessary 10 chase points.
“We knew we were running a good race from the beginning,” said Bessuille, who works at Adobe.
“We’re pretty good at the challenges,” said Reade. “That’s one of the reason we do so well. We stay away from the ones that have a long line up.”
He said they missed needed buses twice, so they had to make route adjustments on the fly.
“We were on the buses for like 45 minutes, I thought the whole race was slipping away from us,” said Bessuille.
But they completed the 10 challenges in three hours and one minute; the second and third place teams both finished within three minutes after the Kanata duo.
Reade, who works for Nortel, said the race was more complex and difficult than last year, but having his wife and two friends ready at home to look up locations, plan routes and answer questions was a huge help.
“They’re just as much a part of the team as Mike and I are,” said Bessuille about the support system.
“The clues were harder this year as well, it wasn’t as obvious,” explained Reade. “We had to spend more time working through it.”
Last year, due to one wrong answer on a trivia challenge, the team had to complete an extra chase point than they expected and put them in third place.
“We really wanted it this year,” said Reade.
Read the rest here.
Cheryl