It Really Was Amazing

Some of our grads are at the centre of experiences others only read about. Their perspectives bring us close to the story. Former Pandas wrestlers Katie Mulkay, ’23 BEd,  and Taylor McPherson, ’22 BKin, won The Amazing Race Canada.

When we saw an ad for applications to The Amazing Race Canada’s 10th season, we knew right away we wanted to team up and enter.

We met a few years ago on the Pandas wrestling team and became fast friends. Before long, we felt like sisters. Wrestling together taught us how to work together, and that we can stand each other for long periods of time.

Putting together our audition video was fun. The tapes are only a few minutes long but it took hours to collect the right clips. We wanted to convey who we are, which meant it needed to be funny and goofy and showcase our genuine friendship. We’d often crack each other up in the middle of a take.

When we submitted it, we thought we had a decent shot at being selected. We offered something that hadn’t been seen much on the show. There was only one other team of wrestlers previously on The Amazing Race, professional wrestlers on the American version. The Canadian version had only had one all-female team before us. 

So we thought, “Maybe they’ll take us.”

The season was filmed over a month in the spring. It was a wild adventure of ups and downs and moments that mattered.

One of us — Katie — had a close friend named Holly who passed away a few years ago. Holly had loved horses. When not one, but two horse-focused challenges popped up on the course, it felt like she was watching over us, perhaps laughing at our technique. We aren’t natural equestrians.

And one of us — Taylor — is a proud member of the Mi’kmaq First Nation. One challenge centred on learning to speak Mi’kmaq, on traditional Mi’kmaq territory. It felt like Taylor’s ancestors were lifting us up. We were the last team to arrive at that challenge and the second one to overcome it!

There was also a wrestling challenge in Guelph, Ont. It was WWE-style wrestling, focused more on theatrics than athletics, but it was fun to use our skills. One of us, Katie this time, was the hyperbolic announcer while the other, Taylor, threw this big man around the ring.

When shooting was over, we weren’t allowed to tell anyone what the results of the competition were. The show’s producers, as you might imagine, look down on that! For a while, the outcome was a secret that we could share only with each other.

It’s rare to run into another team during the race. We wondered about their tactics and how they tackled the challenges. And we didn’t know how our footage would be edited. The producers have hours of tape of each team and only 45 minutes for each episode. What would they do? We organized parties with our friends and families to watch the episodes with them.

Seeing the other teams was eye-opening. Sometimes we’d see them struggle where we didn’t, which made us feel strong. Other times we were amazed by their strategies. In Penticton, B.C., we had to make wine the old-fashioned way. We stomped grapes barefoot and then had to separate the juice from the pulp. We used our hands. We watched the episode and saw another team use their socks as filters! We wished we’d thought of that. 

Once the episodes aired, we began to hear from fans. People would tell us they were rooting for us or that we’re role models. That felt great! We wanted to provide good representation for female athletes, especially in male-dominated sports like wrestling. Our motto is “strong is beautiful” and we mean it. We wanted young girls watching the show to see that they can do anything. A great partner will make you unstoppable.

Now we get recognized sometimes on the street, especially if we’re together. It’s fun to watch people do double-takes and then say, “Hey, don’t I know you from somewhere?” And at U of A Days we delivered a webinar about our roots on the Pandas, teamwork strategies and what we’re doing now.

Now that the season has aired, we can share that we actually won the whole competition, an incredible experience! You might even call it amazing.

McPherson is a sports program co-ordinator with the Indigenous Sport Council of Alberta; Mulkay is a substitute teacher for EPSB and volunteers as a wrestling coach.

This article originally appeared in the Winter 2024 issue of the U of A alumni magazine New Trail.

Photos courtesy of Bell Media