Whether your definition of success is doubling participation or getting the local mayor to sing Let It Go in a banana suit, Quest New West 2015 had it all.
Organized by Tourism New Westminster, the third annual Quest New West attracted 120 participants, 43 teams and 26 businesses Sunday – doubling last year’s participation.
Teams of pedestrians and cyclists, dressed in bright orange shirts, rolled, bussed, SkyTrained, jogged, trudged, crawled and sometimes cried the length and breadth of New Westminster in the blistering hot sun from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The mission in the Amazing Race-style competition was to earn 25 numbered stickers from participating businesses, who posed challenges ranging from fashioning a boutineer at the Bloom Bloom Room in Sapperton to juggling at the Vancouver Circus School at River Market; and from shooting arrows at the Proving Grounds on Columbia Street to painting the Pattullo Bridge with the arts council in Queen’s Park.
Two stops likely to live forever in infamy were Stage New West downtown, where Mayor Jonathan Cote donned the aforementioned banana suit and joined councillors Patrick Johnstone and Mary Trentadue and school board trustee Kelly Slade-Kerr in hit-and-miss rendition of Let It Go from the Disney movie Frozen.
Zhoosh Fitness Garage in the Brow of the Hill neighbourhood, meanwhile, tested competitors’ mettle in the 26 C heat with a straw-breaking-the-camel’s-back, five-part fitness challenge –mercifully supplying a sprinkler and cold bottled water.
Quay’d Up, a cycling pair of Matthew Wollenberg and James Bordignon, won the overall competition and the bike pair category, taking home a total of $750 in prize money.
The Awesomes with Mike and Jer, a team comprised of Ashley Cornelson, Justin Lewis, Mark Alexander and Jeremy Douglas, took home $500 for winning the cycling team event.
The pedestrian pair category and $250 was won by Team TM, Marissa Joel and Taylor Kagel, while the pedestrian team event and $500 was won by the Backdoor Boys, Jeremy Perry, Zachary Wood and Jason York.
For photo and video evidence of Sunday’s unlikely events, search Twitter #QNW2015 and definitely visit the Stage New West YouTube channel.
