Albert J. Marro / Staff Photo Brownwen Warner (left) and Dave Jeski of ``Beauty and the Geek" team prepare for Saturday's Great Rutland Race. 10/09/10
By Cristina Kumka
STAFF WRITER - Published: October 10, 2010
Local couples faced a challenge and in the process, raised at least $2,600 for charity in Rutland Saturday.
The city’s inaugural, real-life version of the widely-telecast show The Amazing Race began at 9 a.m. Saturday with 26 couples running to 15 city locations for physical and intellectual challenges.
At Freeman Marcus Jewelers at 79 Merchants Row, contestants had to find a ring in one of about two dozen boxes then stack those boxes in a pyramid.
At Shearer Honda on Route 7, they had to find a car on the lot with a flat tire and change it, then figure out how much gas would be used to drive the car back to where it was manufactured.
And at Ramuntos Sicilian Pizza on Strongs Avenue, teams had to fold 20 pizza boxes then figure out the cost of a pie with a myriad of toppings, including tax.
It was all in the name of charity, and having a little fun on a bright fall day.
The money raised, private donations and $60 entry fees paid by each team, will go to local business owner Traci Pena’s breast cancer charity The Pink Ribbon Butterfly Project and the Rutland Recreation and Parks Department scholarship fund.
Pena, the owner of Reincarnation Upscale Resale and Fabulous Finds second-hand shop at 86 River St., spent nine months organizing the Saturday event, motivated by her mother.
“My mother died from breast cancer at he age of 40 when I was 5,” Pena said, clad in pink, the color that’s become synonymous with the fight against cancer in women. “It’s an easy cause. Very few people say no.”
The 15 business owners who participated in the event, opening their doors to the contestants and devising their own challenges, were willing to participate mainly because everyone, in some way, has been touched by the disease, Pena said.
Kelsey Woodell, assistant manager at Freeman, a Rutland foundation that’s been at the same location for decades, said the charity challenge also introduced people to his store.
“One remarked that they’ve never been in here,” Woodell said. “Some may say, ‘They were friendly. We’re gonna come back.’”
And at least one pair, the mother and daughter duo of Amanda Barber and Pam Parizo, raised $1,000 on their own.
In the end, the costume-covered couple of David and Erica Wallstrom of Rutland won first prize for being the first team to complete all the challenges. The pair made it back to the race’s headquarters at the train station in under four hours.
“It’s perfect,” Erica Wallstrom told Pena at the finish line. “Super fun.”
The Wallstroms, dressed like Waldo and named the “Where’s Wally” team, got a trophy and a prize package including round-trip airfare from Rutland to Boston on Cape Air, a two-night stay at the Clarion Nantasket Beach Resort and two New England Patriots game tickets, plus transportation to and from the Rutland airport.
Second place went to Serena Gallagher and Brendyn Luther, both wearing gladiator-style togas.
cristina.kumka@rutlandherald.com
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