Anyway, we got three new teams announced today and when I went to the TAR Canada site to check them it seems that somebody over there also may have had dental surgery. Because this is what I saw.
Okay, I wasn't sure if today's announcement who create the kind of impact yesterday's did when I said "Holy shit, they cast Ashley Callingbull!" But it did when I looked over the teams and said "Holy shit, they cast a blind guy." Technically Lowell isn't completely blind, he has some vision but he's got Retinitis Pigments which means no peripheral vision, reduced central vision, and no vision in low light. So he's legally blind. And this I believe is the first time any TAR race has cast a visually impaired racers. We've had Jodi in Season TARC who lost his lower legs in Afghanistan. For TAR, you had Luke who was hearing impaired and soul surfer Bethany. And TAR Australia had racer Sticky Stick, who was born without a left forearm. And one thing we've learned from all of these racers is that they are highly competitive. And since Lowell is training to compete in the Paralympics, yep, he's competitive. He'll be racing with his wife Julie who is a Speech Language Pathologists. Gord and I like Speechies cause one of our best beer buds Roy is also a Speechie. I also like how Julie lists napping as a strength. And they are the third Alberta team, making their home in Lethbridge. Go Alberta!
Next up is a team we'll all be calling the Supermoms. Anna and Tanya are two single moms from Toronto who also have high powered executive jobs. Good to see some more female role models and women over the age of 40. These two will be tough and despite their Supermom moniker have not said something about being able to work great under pressure or in high pressure situations because we all know how that turns out. Anna's fear is right out of Jim Stafford song (She don't like spiders and snakes) while Tanya, seems to have the same fear of another tall person I know: heights. What is it with tall people and their fear of heights, hey Gord? I'm also liking how they are wearing matching clothes. That's a smart move TV-wise. Note the Joel and Ashley did the same.
Rounding out today's new teams is Stephane and Antoine, a father and son team from St. Hubert, Quebec. As you probably know, Gord and I are big fans of teams of dads or a team with a dad, especially on our side of 50. And like Gord and I, Stephane didn't grow up with a great male role model so he used to become the best dad he could be. And when Antoine came out to his family, his father became his biggest supporter. And for some reason Antoine's nickname is Neuf, which is the number 9. Yep, there's a story there. And if we don't get the answer during the show, we'll ask during our interview. Like many father and child teams, there will probably be a lot of drama, heart and laughs as one or the other tries to control or rein in the other. In my experience, this is usually the child so they won't be embarrassed. But we'll see.
So that's the next group of teams. There should be more out tomorrow and I'll blog about that. Also, once all the teams are announced, I'll have my recap on certain things I've noticed about these teams. We are also working on a special interview for the blog prior to the start of the race so we'll keep you updated on that.