A competitive and enthusiastic group gears up to participate in the Saint John Real Estate Board’s Amazing Race, which raised money for YMCA’s Strong Kids campaign. Clockwise, from top: Dorothy Reid, Scott McAllister, Pam Trites, Barry MacDonald. Centre: board EO Angela Beyea.

The Saint John Real Estate Board hosted an Amazing Race recently to raise $7,028 for the YMCA-YWCA Strong Kids Charity (www.strongkids.ca).

Competition was fierce among the participating teams of Realtors; as the first clues were handed out, members shoved each other out of the way to race to their cars and, hurling a last few good-humoured insults to one another, they sped off across the city.

Cryptic clues led teams to various stops, including the zoo, a seafood market to chomp down raw oysters, a nearby lake for a canoeing expedition, an aquatic driving range, a rock wall, a children’s indoor park, hotel corridors to hunt down a room with a lockbox and a grocery store.

In the end, the team of Pam Trites, Heather Stewart, Tara Morrison and Dorothy Reid from Exit Realty Specialists in Saint John reigned victorious, raising more than $2,000 for Strong Kids and finishing what should have been a roughly 90-minute race in 45 short minutes.

That evening, many more members enjoyed a barbecue, a silent auction and a beautiful summer evening by the lake.