Ok, right from the outset I really want to stress that our birthday amazing race events are not that physical! But the very nature of the concept will see you out traipsing about the city including a decent walk. So you can imagine our surprise when we got a call from a lovely lady who wanted to do it for her 70th birthday. We clearly took her through what the game involved and that essentially you are walking from one end of the city to the other but she was unperturbed! In all honesty we assumed that she was clearly a ‘life-be-in-it type’ and would’ve been inviting her kids along to prove ‘she still got it’.
Nope.
Our hosts met the group at the start and were greeted by a lively bunch of over 60’s wearing comfortable shoes ready to show us how it was done! We were surprised – we’d be lying to say we weren’t. Majority of birthday groups who choose to do this kind of activity are 40th, 30th, 21st’s even but this was certainly our first 70th!
As always we hyped up the competition and one thing for sure, defeat, for these formidable seniors wasn’t an option. It was game on!
Almost by plan(!), this type of event served the group perfectly due to the fact that speed is not the major deciding factor in winning our Amazing Race. The challenge has twists and turns, decision making, logical and lateral mental challenges forcing you to think outside the box. How well you do the challenge is more important than how quickly you do it. Instantly you could see the teams understand that their cunning natures were going to serve them well.
After a couple of epic battles at the checkpoints we rendezvoused at the final checkpoint with beer in hand. The lapsed time was definitely longer than average but the final scores would give any 21st a run for their money.
In the end the birthday girl didn’t win – victory was taken by a team of contemporaries claiming to be craftier than the rest. The winners wore their medals with pride but the pride and sense of accomplishment was felt by all and certainly not lost on us too.
I can only hope that come my 70th birthday I’m surrounded by a bunch of beautiful old friends still willing to try and kick my butt (which they won’t!)
