A short, action-packed, bunchy leg took teams from South Africa into Botswana. After arriving at the spear-throwing Roadblock en masse, teams faced a sprint to the mat as they drove across the desert, tackled a Detour, and then drove some more. Brian and Greg bounced back from near tragedy to outrun Ray and Deana and stay in the race in what has to be one of the best finishes ever.

Brian and Greg faced no competition this leg for the Play Of The Week. While there were some nice touches here and there – points to Uchenna and Joyce for taking the road less followed on leaving the Game Park and jumping from last place to the first flight – it was one quick decision from the brothers that made all the difference. Arriving at the Detour dead last, still shaken from their roll-over in the sand, they quickly sized up the situation. With two teams remaining at the food option, they quickly realized that their only chance was to try the other task in the hopes that it would be faster. It was, and while they finished the Detour still in last place, they gained enough time that they were on Ray and Deana’s heels all the way to the Pit Stop parking lot, where the brothers’ fleetness of foot photo-finished them off.

It’s always tempting to sit back and leave the navigating to someone else. It’s not always a bad thing; however, you at least have to know enough about where you are and where you are going to be able to quickly bail out if it looks like you are going seriously astray. The trip from the Game Park to Johannesburg airport showed why. While I could dock Lynn and Alex for going the wrong way in the first place - and then getting even more lost – at least they didn’t blindly follow another team. Both Meredith and Gretchen and Rob and Amber tried to take the easy way out but found themselves way, way out, earning them a double Smooth Move. Next time, read your own map.

The Food half of this week’s Detour was an excellent example of the importance of teamwork. Watching the village women in the background, it was clear that pounding corn in the traditional manner demands co-operation and co-ordination in developing the right rhythm between the two pounders. Teams that could establish this did well. And teams that did not? Well, that would be Where The Wheels Came Off The Bus for Ray and Deana. More often than not, they seemed to be working in direct opposition to each other. As a result, both Uchenna and Joyce and Meredith and Gretchen – oh, the poetic justice – overtook them at the Detour, and they lost enough time that Brian and Greg were able to photo-finish them off at the mat.


The Bad Samaritan

In sport, bad things happen sometimes. Racers stumble. Players tumble. And cars leave the road. While most sports have rules to protect players who find themselves in difficulty, requiring others to at least avoid actions that would further endanger them, there are no rules requiring that players help their opponents.

In most situations, that is as it should be. If a runner trips over a hurdle, there are people around whose job it is to help them; all the other racers need do is try not to step on them. But when a sport takes off into the wild, where the game requires people to leave a protected arena where there are officials and attendants at hand, then those involved have an additional obligation to look out for each other.

At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Canadian sailor Lawrence Lemieux was out on the open seas, in second place and heading for a medal, when he noticed that another boat had capsized. He immediately left the course to go and help, eventually rescuing the man crewing the other boat. Lawrence finished his race in eleventh place, but I somehow doubt that he lays awake at night regretting his actions.

When you are driving across the desert sands and you see a vehicle rolled over, there really is no excuse for not stopping to offer assistance. If your help is not needed, you will soon be on your way again. But if your help was needed, and you didn’t stop… that it the sort of thing that sleepless nights are made of. Slow down, roll down the window, ask if everyone’s okay, and see if they need you.

Yes, Rob and Amber, you are in a race. The human race.


Lies, damn lies, and…

Of the teams left in the race, five – Rob and Amber, Ron and Kelly, Uchenna and Joyce, Lynn and Alex, and Brian and Greg – are all doing better than at least some previous winners were at this point. Rob and Amber are doing better after six legs than any previous winner. Of course, so were six other teams, none of whom walked away with the million. At this point, I’d call Rob and Amber a lock for the top four.

Team	Position	Average
Rob/Amber	2	2.833
Ron/Kelly	1	3.833
Lynn/Alex	4	4.000
Uchenna/Joyce	3	4.333
Brian/Greg	6	4.500
Ray/Deana	7	5.000
Debbie/Bianca	X	5.333
Susan/Patrick	X	6.500
Meredith/Gretchen	5	6.500

At the other end of the spectrum, Meredith and Gretchen are still hanging on, now with a worse record than three other teams that are already in Sequesterville. I have compared their performance to Teri and Ian’s, and it’s a valid comparison – those two were doing even worse after six legs than Meredith and Gretchen are. However, Leg Six is where Teri and Ian turned it around, riding a Fast Forward into first place. Meredith and Gretchen, meanwhile, have yet to finish higher than fifth. It doesn’t look good.


Next Week

Devotion to your partner and an iron will can only carry a team so far. Meredith and Gretchen have to be the odds on favourites for elimination. If they manage to squeak through yet again, then any team could end up going. I’d put Ron and Kelly or Lynn and Alex at the top of the list. The former team seems more like acquaintances with every episode, and this is where a strong relationship with your partner starts to make a real difference. As to the latter, Lynn’s continuing Robsession is bound to start detracting from his team’s ability to focus on the race, and that can be costly.


Leg 7-6 At a Glance

Start point	Soweto Overlook, Soweto, South Africa
End point	Makgadikgadi Pans, Xua Xarra, Botswana
Distance traveled	700 miles
Distance to date	15700 miles

	Start Order	Time	Finish Order	Time
1	Ray/Deana	2241	Ron/Kelly	0529
2	Ron/Kelly	0039	Rob/Amber	0543
3	Brian/Greg	0103	Uchenna/Joyce	0551
4	Lynn/Alex	0124	Lynn/Alex	0552
5	Rob/Amber	0133	Meredith/Gretchen	0612
6	Uchenna/Joyce	0220	Brian/Greg	0622
7	Meredith/Gretchen	0351	Ray/Deana	TBD

DETOUR
Food			Water
Grind corn into meal to fill a basket.			Use a straw to fill twelve ostrich eggs with water from an underground spring.
Team	In	Out	Team	In	Out
Ron/Kelly	1	1	Rob/Amber	2	2
Lynn/Alex	3	4	Brian/Greg	7	7
Ray/Deana	4	6
Uchenna/Joyce	5	3
Meredith/Gretchen	6	5

ROADBLOCK
Spear Throwing
Throw a spear twenty feet and hit a moving target.
Team	Taken by	Record	In	Out
Ron/Kelly	Ron	(3/5)	1	2
Brian/Greg	Brian	(3/5)	2	1
Rob/Amber	Rob	(3/5)	3	7
Uchenna/Joyce	Joyce	(2/5)	4	5
Lynn/Alex	Lynn	(3/5)	5	3
Meredith/Gretchen	Meredith	(3/5)	6	6
Ray/Deana	Ray	(2/4)	7	4

Leaderboard

Leg	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
Ron/Kelly	10	2	4	4	2	1
Rob/Amber	3	1	5	1	5	2
Uchenna/Joyce	8	4	2	3	6	3
Lynn/Alex	5	5	1	5	4	4
Meredith/Gretchen	6	7	7	7	7	5
Brian/Greg	4	9	3	2	3	6
Ray/Deana	7	3	6	6	1	7
Susan/Patrick	2	8	8	8
Debbie/Bianca	1	6	9
Megan/Heidi	9	10
Ryan/Chuck	11