The fame, the fortune, and the bragging rights––nine pairs of students competed with everything on the line in Tigard High’s first ever Amazing Race.

Throughout the week of April 22, these pairs battled in mind-boggling challenges and ruthless activities, a pair being eliminated after each round. The events included trying baby food, solving puzzles blindfolded and doing cheer routines. There was nothing that these teams didn’t sacrifice to win the gold.

In the end of all of the competitions, Charlotte Welch and Sara Rumbaugh took first, Annika Magnusen and Taylor Waufle took second, and twins Nikki and Lucy Yusem took third.

“There was one where we had to either take a shot of apple cider vinegar or eat ten saltines, and my partner and I chose to be the only group to eat the saltines…it put us in last place but the challenge following it put us in first place and let us win the challenge,” junior Taylor Waufle said.

The goal of the Amazing Race was to create a fun event for the student body; however, due to advertising issues, the organizers for this event hope that next year they can get more students excited and involved with each of the challenges that are thrown at them.

Even though, some of the THS community were unaware of this event occuring, Lauren Denham explained how this year was a “trial run.” The idea for the Amazing Race came from a similar event at West Linn. It was very successful there with video recaps of each day’s events.

“There were a few things that went wrong during the filming process, so hopefully next year we will be able to show each of the challenges,” Denham said.

“I chose to do it because I know lots of other schools do similar events, and it sounded intriguing and looked like a  lot of fun. I also watch ‘The Amazing Race’ on TV and it’s one of my favorite shows, so I wanted to participate in something similar,” junior Annika Magnusen said.

Throughout the competitions Tigard students involved had an amazing time.