MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- Nineteen teams, thirty-one volunteers and twenty-seven Marine Corps Community Service employees kicked off the inaugural Amazing Race here Saturday.
Car Ramrod representing Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 12 and composed of Cody Brown, Kenneth Mimlitsch, Erik Shepard and Carlos Toromedina took first place overall with an adjusted final time of 1:02:59.
“Pretty much when we kicked the field goal and his (Mimlitsch) shoe went further than the ball, we knew we had it won,” said Brown. “And the fact that I could duel-wield chopsticks,” added Toromedina.
Participants in the race began at the parade deck and were released in a tiered system with the first clue.
From the first clue, participants took to the pavement, running about the air station from location to location like ants performing various tasks to fill their passports with stickers.
Locations were highly varied with contestants running to places such as the paintball range, Hornet's Nest and even the library.
Objectives varied almost as much as the locations with challenges ranging from the academic, requiring some mathematical dexterity and knowledge of Marine Corps history, to the physical, which included events such as the tire change at Typhoon Motors and basketball bowling at the Strike Zone bowling center.
In total, there were 14 different events contestants could participate in, but every team was allowed to skip up to three whole events.
At several of the locations there were optional additional challenges that would give bonus time, ranging from 10 to 15 minutes, if completed successfully.
Many teams probably underestimated the importance of bonus time as the top three teams, Car Ramrod, the Warriors and Two Tone had 40 minutes or more in bonus time each.
“We had the time, but not enough bonus points,” Cory Thorton, a member of Cab Lizzards, the team with the fastest unadjusted time, said.
At the conclusion of the race, Col. Michael A. O'Halloran was on hand to present the top six teams with their prizes.
The next Amazing Race is scheduled for May and is supposed to have more events and hopefully more participation, said O'Halloran.
Car Ramrod had a caveat for those wanting to participate in future Amazing Races, “For the next few years, no one should bother coming out,” they said.