The Fearless, Frozen Females of Hockey

The ninth leg of the second season of Amazing Race Canada found Natalie Spooner and Meaghan Mikkelson returning to Canada along with the remaining competitors. After sweeping the pair of race legs in France, the hockey heroines were looking for a seventh victory. A strong start provided the impression that it was possible. The Roadblock challenge found the teams getting behind the wheel at the International Centre of Advanced Racing. Dressed in racing gear, Mikkelson would engage in a series of high-speed turns. Looking very confident behind the wheel, Spooner could not help but compare Mikkelson to female racing superstar Danica Patrick. A quarter drift and a reverse 180 comprised the turns for the Precision Driving challenge with Mikkelson finishing first. Reaching the landmark Atwater Market ahead of the remaining competitors, Spooner and Mikkelson contemplated the Fast Forward. With Mikkelson acknowledging that such a challenge involves high risk in exchange for high rew...

After a fifth-place finish in Winnipeg , Natalie Spooner and Meaghan Mikkelson were hoping to return to their winning ways with the seventh leg of the race. To the surprise of all the competitors involved, the next leg of Amazing Race Canada took them overseas. Travelling to Normandy , France in an episode titled “Lest We Forget”, the leg would provide all competitors with a unique first-hand experience of Canadian history. Part of six teams that were still in the Race, Spooner and Mikkelson arrived at the Boulard Calvados distillery first.   Offering to compete in the roadblock, Mikkelson was working with a mathematical formula to remove a sample of apple brandy from one of the hundreds of barrels in stock, working towards achieving a 40 per cent alcohol content. Mikkelson’s struggles allowed other teams to catch up and eventually by-pass them. Mikkelson would re-group and realize that the problem was that she was not using the same size tools as were shown in t...

Returning to home soil for the fifth leg of Amazing Race Canada , Natalie Spooner and Meaghan Mikkelson maintained grace under pressure. Despite being the first to leave from the Statue of Mercy at Macau towards the Hong Kong Airport , all competitors boarded the plane at the same time. This took away the advantage of being in first. When the plane landed at Vancouver , they should have been given a 15 minute head start. Before boarding the plane, Spooner and Mikkelson had to make the decision of which team they would allocate their Express Pass to. The hockey heroes would show loyalty to the French Canadian twins, Pierre and Michel. Of note, they assisted them in Macau in helping to locate the vendor on Happiness Street in Macau that would provide them with their next clue. In return for the Express Pass , the twins promised to not U-Turn the hockey heroes on a future leg of the race. Once word got about to the other teams, jealousy and gossip began. One team had the au...

The hot streak continues for Natalie Spooner and Meaghan Mikkelson as they successfully captured the third leg of The Amazing Race Canada . It would prove to be a historic accomplishment for these female hockey heroes. Of note, the third leg took place in Hong Kong, in an episode titled “Snakes and Liars”, the first time that Amazing Race Canada was contested overseas. Leaving first from Tofino , BC among the nine remaining teams, it was a point of pride for Spooner and Mikkelson as they were the first Amazing Race Canada contestants headed towards an overseas destination. Throughout the early legs of the races, they have set a standard of excellence for the rest to attempt to emulate. As the rest of the teams would soon discover, the arrival in Hong Kong would prove to be highly eventful. The first aspect of the third leg in the race featured registration for a morning blessing from a group of monks at Ngong Ping Village . This was followed by a challenging 268 step asc...

From being introduced first among the contestants in the second season of The Amazing Race Canada, it would prove to be a trend for Natalie Spooner and Meaghan Mikkelson. During the first episode, titled “What’s It Take to Get a Cup of Tea?”, this remarkable duo never ranked lower than second place in any of the legs of the race. Things literally got off to a flying start as the Roadblock (a feature of the race) indicated that one contestant from each team had to jump out of an airplane. Taking into account that first episode was filmed in Victoria, British Columbia, the daring skydivers got a beautiful view of one of Canada’s greatest cities. With Spooner volunteering to jump out of the plane, there was a brief moment of concern. A combination of nerves and dizzy spells made Spooner vomit in the plane. With Mikkelson on the ground waiting for her, she was curious as to why she did not jump yet as several planes were circling in the air. Declaring that the quickest way to ...