What an A-May-zing Race
by Edgar Gomez, Jr.
Last May 11 we, the CROSSLinC Youth, held the A-May-zing Race, an obvious reference to the TV show “Amazing Race”, but with a CROSSLinC twist. It was held at the clubhouse of the St. Charbel subdivision, one of the many sprawling subdivisions in QC and the home turf of one of our youth leaders. It was a way for us to release some of the pent up energy we’d stored over the summer. It was also a chance for us to get out for some fresh air for a change.
The trip from the church to St. Charbel didn’t take long. We rendezvoused with our youth leaders at the clubhouse where they divided us into two teams – Blue and Green - and briefed of our mission to search for flags, which they’d hidden throughout the subdivision. Then we were sent on our way - two competing teams going for the gold.
We walked down seemingly endless roads, searching for the slightest traces of disturbance among the tranquil suburban jungle. Each team took a different route. The heat was killing us, and we were plagued by hunger and thirst. But still we pressed on, hoping that the reward would be worth all the suffering.
After many dangerous tasks, which included dodging water balloons menacingly thrown at us by our sneering youth leaders, being force-fed with gag-inducing veggie sandwiches and constantly evading the clutches of a stalking “Spider Man” (Chip Balbuena in an improvised costume), we finally finished the race.
Despite the way I described our ordeals, we really had fun… even though our team didn’t win. The prize of the winning team was one thousand five hundred pesos in cold cash, equally divvied up amongst their team members. We, the “first runner up” team (a feeble sugarcoating of our undeniable defeat L) were awarded one thousand pesos in cash, shared equally amongst ourselves as well.
After a brief respite, we got to play basketball, swap stories and sit down and contemplate ways to burn our newly won money. Then we were invited to eat at our youth leader’s house, relishing their hospitality and releasing our leftover energies through a Wiiboxing game, graciously provided by our hosts.
We went home with our limbs aching and our bellies full. We had a really fun, albeit tiring, day – and that was just the way we liked it. Happily, God blessed us with fine weather, so it’s safe to say that He approved of the whole amazing event.
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