The Amazing Hoop Race, Hooping.org’s new revolutionary contest sending teams of two on a virtual hula hoop race around the world, spun it’s way to South Africa this week where our 11 teams were faced with a variety of challenges. But before we get into that, for those who are just tuning in, here’s what you’ve missed so far. Things started off with meeting our 14 amazing teams, the race was explained and they were off to get people hooping at the airport before landing in Brazil for their Samba Hoop Dance Challenge challenge. After the scoring and voting three teams were eliminated, and the remainder were headed to Johannesburg where South African celebrity and hooper star Sass was their host for a challenge inspired by the South African sound that is Kwaito. She also wanted our teams showcasing their highest bliss hooping the urban streets of Johannesburg. But before our teams could even get there, they encountered a detour.
A detour is a choice between two tasks and our teams were blindly asked to choose MILD or WILD. What were these detours all about? For the teams that chose mild needed to find a home with a kitchen and use their stove to make either Isidudu or Pampoenkoekies, both South African favorites, and hoop while eating them. Teams that chose wild were going on a wildlife hooping safari to their choice of any of these four locations near Johannesburg. So how did they handle their Detour challenges and what did our teams come up with for sharing their hoop joy on the streets of Jozi? Let’s find out!
TEAM SEATTLE: Michelle and Taylor chose to take a hoop on the WILD side and encountered ferocious birds and a growling cat: Travelogue Video Documentation here. Then for their Vista Point challenge this week they took to the streets of Johannesburg.
TRAVEL POINTS: 20
VISTA POINTS: To be awarded by our judges.
AUDIENCE POINTS: To be determined by you.
PIT STOP POINTS: 2
TEAM TEXAS: Geri and Mona chose WILD as well, and had great luck hooping with a zebra, as well as a whole family of elephants! Travelogue Video Documentation here. Then after getting lost, Team Texas made their way downtown.
TRAVEL POINTS: 20
VISTA POINTS: To be awarded by our judges.
AUDIENCE POINTS: To be determined by you.
PIT STOP POINTS: 1
TEAM WISCONSIN: Danielle and Savannah picked the WILD challenge for their detour and Savannah made her way to Mapungabwe National Park where she encountered giraffes, chimpanzees, tigers, even an ostrich! Danielle hooped her way into Marakele National Park and found some wildlife of her own: Travelogue Video Evidence here. Then they hooped the streets and took in some night life.
TRAVEL POINTS: 20
VISTA POINTS: To be awarded by our judges.
AUDIENCE POINTS: To be determined by you.
PIT STOP POINTS: 10
TEAM AUSTRALIA: Clare and Stacey went WILD and made their way to Mapungubwe National Park for an encounter with a crocodile, and they even saw an elephant hula hooping: Travelogue Video Evidence here. Then, they still had time to make it back to the airport to catch their flight to Brazil.
TRAVEL POINTS: 20
VISTA POINTS: To be awarded by our judges.
AUDIENCE POINTS: To be determined by you.
PIT STOP POINTS: 8
TEAM BAY AREA: Andrea and Susan chose the WILD detour and were soon hooping with tigers, giraffes and baboons! Travelogue Video Evidence here. Then they took to the streets of Johannesburg and spun the city up!
TRAVEL POINTS: 20
VISTA POINTS: To be awarded by our judges.
AUDIENCE POINTS: To be determined by you.
PIT STOP POINTS: 9
TEAM BRISTOL: Cecile and Hannah chose the MILD challenge and were soon making pampoenkoekies and hooping while eating them: Travelogue Video Evidence. And then they were hooping the streets of Johannesburg.
TRAVEL POINTS: 20
VISTA POINTS: To be awarded by our judges.
AUDIENCE POINTS: To be determined by you.
PIT STOP POINTS: 6
TEAM GEORGIA: Jessi and Mary Ellen chose the MILD detour and were soon cooking up a storm: Travelogue Video Evidence. Then after hooping and eating pampoenkoekies, they hooped their way to the city streets.
TRAVEL POINTS: 20
VISTA POINTS: To be awarded by our Brazilian judges.
AUDIENCE POINTS: To be determined by you.
PIT STOP POINTS: 7
TEAM LONDON: While Jen had a work life race interruption that sent her on a detour of a different kind to Amsterdam, Jazz chose MILD for hers – then Team London both made pampoenkoekies on two continents: Travelogue Video Evidence here. While Jen didn’t make it back to South Africa in time for their Vista Point video this week, they both shot footage that was to bring them together via the magic of the internet, but after a full day of data transfer failures between cities, we have Jazz delivering the hoop joy in Johannesburg solo.
TRAVEL POINTS: 20
VISTA POINTS: To be awarded by our judges.
AUDIENCE POINTS: To be determined by you.
PIT STOP POINTS: 5
TEAM MARYLAND: Angel and Soolah scored their 20 points in the kitchen with a MILD detour choice whipping up not just pampoenkoekies, but an entire African feast: Travelogue Video Evidence here. Then they unknowingly covered the Wild detour choice as well in their Vista Point video for this week.
TRAVEL POINTS: 20
VISTA POINTS: To be awarded by our judges.
AUDIENCE POINTS: To be determined by you.
PIT STOP POINTS: 3
TEAM NORTH CAROLINA: Rhonda and Selena chose the WILD detour and hooping after sunset in an area known to have wildlife seems rather dangerous: Travelogue Video Evidence here. Then they spin things up in Johannesburg and give a new definition to the term “travel hoop.”
TRAVEL POINTS: 20
VISTA POINTS: To be awarded by our judges.
AUDIENCE POINTS: To be determined by you.
PIT STOP POINTS: 4
TEAM ORANGE COUNTY: Claire and Erin go WILD as well, making their way to Marakele National Park where they don’t see some wildlife, they are the wildlife: Travelogue Video Evidence. Then they roll onto the Johannesburg streets and spread the hoop love.
TRAVEL POINTS: 20
VISTA POINTS: To be awarded by our judges.
AUDIENCE POINTS: To be determined by you.
PIT STOP POINTS: 1
And there you have it! Now it’s time for you to participate in The Amazing Hoop Race by casting a vote for the team that you would like to see continue on in the Amazing Hoop Race. You can only vote once and for one team only.
VOTING HAS NOW CLOSED FOR THIS LEG OF THE RACE.
Thank you for your participation. Voting will close at 3am PST on Tuesday, October 25th. Audience Points will then be awarded and combined with the Vista Points from our South African judges. Those numbers will be added to the scores above, giving each team their total for this leg of the race. The team coming in first will score themselves a pack of amazing Hooper Playing Cards featuring all kinds of hoopers on them including our South African hostess Sass. The three teams that are in the bottom this week will be eliminated, so tune in tomorrow for the results of this leg of the race and stay tuned as our hoopers continue on their Amazing Hoop Race around the world.
Go Geri and Mona Go Team Texas!
thanks, Juliet!
Hoooray the website is back on line!
But we lost precious evening hours here in the UK since it’s been down since 6pm and it’s now 9! Exactly when people get online! Could the vote be extended? Or any other suggestions?
Hey Hoopers -
My sincere apologies for today’s technical challenges. The overwhelming traffic in response to the race crashed our server around 9am this morning. I’d been up all night working on the race and had gone to sleep shortly before that, and though several people had my phone number and were keeping an eye on things to call me should such a thing occur, and they did, I slept through the calls which I never do and just woke up. I’ve rebooted our server and will be keeping a close eye on it for the remainder of the day.
- Philo
Voting will be extended by four hours to make up for the time loss in support of those who are in the UK as well. Again everyone, apologies! Voting will last until 7am PST on Tuesday.
Cool, thanks Philo!
Philo…it’s ok…you are doing a great job with all this!
What an absolutely fun thing to participate and watch! Go Philo! Go Team Texas! Salani kahle!
(((((hugs)))))
Go bristol you are the best!!!!!
Thanks Elise
Go Team East Bay!!
Glad the site is back up!
Orange County (or is it Oklahoma City?) ROCKS!
It’s Orange County, California.
GO TEAM MARYLAND! You’ve put your hearts and souls into this and you’re just so cute! Fingers, toes and eyes crossed for you.
TEAM WISCONSIN! For all that they have done for hooping recognition and their pure creativity on this project. Beware of Evil Square!
Thanks, that means a lot to us !
great videos this week…the standard is getting higher…good luck everyone!!!
xxx
GO Team Georgia! It’s inspiring that you’re competing and still managing to take care of your families! Rock on mammas!
Way to go Team Texas! Hoop Hard Core! Woo! Hoo!
THANKS!!!!!!!
Team OC!!
GO JESSI & MARY ELLEN-YOU REALLY GOT THE STUFF
Proud of Team OC – go hoopers!
GO TEAM TEXAS!!! We LOVE **<3 Geri & Mona <3**!!
GO TEAM LONDON.
Go team LONDON!! xxx
Thanks Philo, no worries, the server just cant handle the awesomeness of all of the hoopfans!!
I am SO proud of everyone, i feel very honoured to be apart of this competition. <3
big dittO here!!!!!
Ahh. Everthing is crossed in the hope that we make it through this week. Has been hard motivating colleagues at work to watch hoop videos and vote! Some of them just missed the deadline. Well done to everyone this week in advance of the results. Some great submissions – the standard has been amazing this week.
Well done everybody! This was a really fun challenge
Go Team NC!! Carolina girls do the best hoop!