Piney Woods Lions Club Hosts ‘Amazing Race’
By Kelly Nicol
Messenger Publisher
CROCKETT – The Amazing Race was hosted once again Saturday, Oct. 1 by the Piney Woods Lions Club. This was the third year of the event – excluding last year which was cancelled due to COVID-19. The event has grown each year with a high this year of 13 teams.
According to Margaret Tuggle, the event takes several months to plan out, working all the details and routes in order to bring such an event together.
I personally was on team Mike McCreight for JP (which also included Mike McCreight, Madilyn Smith and Natalie Nicol.) The following was an account of our experience:
The event started at the Methodist church in Crockett, where all the teams met up to sign waivers and start the race. Each team was given a set of riddles and when they were all solved, an envelope was given to the team with directions to the next site.
The directions led to The CBTX Bank in Kennard. Teams were given an option of a mental or physical challenge. Team Mike McCreight for JP chose the physical challenge where each team had to sit down on a chair with a potato in it, pick it up without hands and carry it between your legs about 30 feet and drop it in a bucket. Upon completion, you had to go to a desk and chose a cup of cereal, eat it and find a red line in the bottom. If unsuccessful, the process started over again. Once successfully completed, we received a token of completion and a clue to the next location.
The clue led us to the old train station in Crockett which was labeled as the ROAD BLOCK! It definitely lived up to its name. Two members of the team were allowed in the station with six clues – and from the clues they had to find the object in the station and take a picture, then come outside and show a judge to confirm the picture was correct. Teammates Natalie and Madilyn struggled – and in the end – myself and Mike McCreight had to go in and finish out the challenge. At the point, we left in last place….
The next clue led us to the Fire Station in Lovelady. We chose the mental challenge. We swiftly built a tower out of cans and tin foil that reached 3 feet in height and waited one minute to make sure it did not fall. We were successful and moved on to the next challenge.
The clue was a little tricky to the next location, but we guessed correctly going to the splash pad in the park and were able to pass a few fellow racers. The challenge at the Splash Pad was to find a rubber duck with our team number (7) on the bottom of it. It seemed as though there were 100’s of little ducks, but we once again found our lucky duck quickly.
Moving to the next location, our clue sent us to the city park in Grapeland. Once again, we chose to use our mental toughness and had to recite a poem from memory that was written on a piece of paper. We divided up the poem and each of us studied and gave our part. Natalie and “Smitty” once again started the process and Mike and I had to come in and close it out. We then received our token and our next clue – and off we went. At this point, we felt as though we had gained a lot of ground.
Our next clue brought us to the park in Spring Creek Country Club. Once again, we chose the mental challenge where we had to construct a paper airplane and fly it past a marker about 30 feet away. We were hot on the tail of Assistant Superintendent’s Brian Aiken’s family team as we left the park in route to finish the race back where we started at the Methodist Church. Although we tried, we were unsuccessful in passing the Aiken’s and finished in fifth place.
The Piney Woods Lions Club then served us a great lunch of barbeque baked potatoes (I was assured that they were not the potatoes from Kennard) as we watched the rest of the teams come in. The awards ceremony and door prizes were conducted by Piney Woods Lions Club member Miguel Benavides.
“I would like to thank all the participants that came out today and joined us for our Amazing Race,” Benavides said. “This event is our biggest fund raiser of the year and takes months of preparation to make it all come together. The event hosted 13 teams this year we hope even more attendance next year.”
The winners were brought to the front and given their prize money. Many door prizes were awarded to the participants as well. Winner placed as follows:
• 1st Place- The Young and the Rest of us.
• 2nd place- Rita’s Runner’s
• 3rd Place- Frontline to finish line
Finishing in fifth place for our first year was pretty good without knowing really what was in store. I can definitely say that next year we will be ready. This event was an absolute blast and a great way for a group of friends or family to spend a Saturday morning. I would encourage you to check in to participating next year. Contact the Piney Woods Lions Club and tell them you are ready to race!
