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Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Windspeaker.com
An Indigenous woman is on the winning team for this year’s series The Amazing Race Canada.
Taylor McPherson, a member of Miawpukek First Nation in Newfoundland and Labrador, and her teammate Katie Mulkay crossed the finish line first in the final episode of the series aired on Sept. 10.
McPherson and Mulkay, who are both 24, became the second female team to win The Amazing Race Canada.
The final race of the 10th season showed a very excited McPherson and Mulkay take top spot in in the final leg of the season. The race wrapped up in their hometown of Edmonton, Alta.
“I mean honestly, being on our home turf in Edmonton we were excited, nervous, feeling like we’re ready to puke knowing we were running that final leg and home,” McPherson said.
“The second we came across the finish line and we stepped on that final mat, we were just in complete and utter shock, like we cannot believe we had this one.”
The CTV series started with 11 teams including two with Indigenous participants. Former pro basketball player Michael Linklater and his son Amari, members of Thunderchild First Nation in Saskatchewan, also took part.
McPherson and Mulkay, who are close friends, met while they were members on the University of Alberta Pandas’ wrestling team.
“We kind of became friends and came really close from being on the team,” Mulkay said. “We wrestled together, we travelled together and we just became really, really strong friends and we’ve been friends ever since.”
Other teams in this year’s series included former professional baseball players, ex-National Hockey League players, Canadian reality TV stars, YouTubers, wrestlers and personal trainers.
Jon Montgomery, who won the gold medal in the men’s skeleton event at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, hosted the show.
For winning the season, McPherson and Mulkay were awarded a $250,000 cash grand prize, two 2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV RS vehicles, and a round-the-world trip-of-a-lifetime courtesy of Expedia.
But the women agree they are walking away with a lot more than the prizes.
They explained how they learned a number of life lessons including pushing through those moments where they doubted themselves and their abilities.
“These lessons that we’ve learned along the way, we will cherish forever,” said Mulkay.
McPherson and Mulkay will be taking those lessons back on the road as they enjoy one of their prizes and begin their next adventure travelling around the world, with their first stop being Iceland.
“Our plan for Iceland is we want to get a little camper van and putt-putt our way around and hike and sightsee,” said Mulkay, adding the second trip for the twosome will be to Thailand.
McPherson is also planning to allocate a portion of her winnings into a pilot project she has been collaborating on with other students from the University of Alberta and Edmonto’s MacEwan University called SHED.
Spiritual Holistic Exercise Den (SHED) is a community program that brings recreational sport opportunities to Indigenous youth in their home communities.
“Basically, it’s a shed that goes into a community filled with equipment and you train the youth to run it as a program,” McPherson said. “It’s a self-sustainable based sport and recreational program.”
The shed is filled with equipment for various sports activities and delivered to an accessible area within the community.
“It stays within the community, it’s kind of that meet up spot for kids to participate in sporting recreation on the land without the need for facilities,” McPherson said. “The community would receive a shed, a physical shed, with different sports equipment that the community wants or needs and or activities that the kids want to participate in. Then we have students that go in and train the youth in the program on how to run it.”
Those youth who receive training then spend the summer facilitating activities with the other youth within the area.
“So, (it) creates leadership opportunities, employability, employment opportunities (and) connections… and so much physical literacy skills, and connect to culture too,” McPherson added.
For information on becoming a contestant on the next The Amazing Race Canada visit www.ctv.ca or follow the show’s official social media accounts @AmazingRaceCDA.