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Leg 18.10A – “Hurl it into the hole!”
Teams are almost home. But first, they must fly to… Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan!
All teams will be on the same Turkish Airlines flight, via Istanbul, arriving in Bishkek at 8:45am. Upon arrival in Bishkek, teams must make their way to Panfilov Park. Here, they will collect a bundle of skins and felt traditionally used for a yurt and keep it until further notice.
Teams must then head to Ala Too Square where they will find the Detour: Shoro or Kalpak.
In Shoro, teams will learn how to make four different varieties of a traditional fermented wheat-based drink: jarma, maksym, aralash and chalap. Teams must then sell the drinks on the street to receive their next clue.
In Kalpak, teams will learn how to make one of Kyrgyzstan’s national symbols, the kalpak, a traditional hat representing the country. Teams will first make felt which they will then use to make the hat. After embroidering a meaningful design on the kalpak, teams will receive the next clue.
After the Detour, teams must now make their way to the Ak-Kula Hippodrome. And here, teams will find the Road Block: Who can hurl it?
Kyrgyzstan has hosted the first three World Nomad Games in 2014, 2016 and 2018 with a Philippine team also taking part. And perhaps the most popular of the traditional Nomad events is Kok boru, a sport in which horse-mounted players attempt to place a headless goat carcass into a goal.
For this Road Block, teams will a participate in a modified, less aggressive version of kok boru. Instead of a carcass, teams must instead toss a 50lb sack of sand into two goals, called kazans, on either side of the pitch while horseback and accompanied by an experienced local rider. After each goal, teams must carry the sack back to the center kazan. Once they have scored twice, they will receive the next clue.
Teams must now make their way to Osh Bazaar.
And here, teams will find the final Double Yield of the Race.
After checking in at the Yield, each team member must eat a full, freshly baked tandry nan to receive their next clue.
That clue directs teams to search for the Mat at Victory Monument.
And of course, only “the Mat” means this is a SuperLeg! And teams will have to take a clue from the cluebox on the Abandoned Mat and continue the Race.
The first team to check-in here will win P100,000 courtesy of Shell V-Power Nitro+.
The last team to check-in here at this SuperLeg midpoint will have to face an automatic Rewind on the second half of this Leg.
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“Director’s” Commentary
Yay for another #NewCountryAlert! Kyrgyzstan’s been on my list for a while, but this Leg came about after seeing videos and reading about the World Nomad Games. Perfect opportunity to finally have a Leg here!
Obviously, as I always say, you’ll find better tasks when you actually visit the location. But this Leg is alright so far.
The first Route Marker ties in to this SuperLeg since the skin and felt will be needed on the second half of the Leg.
Both Detours are straightforward tasks that are culturally relevant and gets teams interacting with locals.
The highlight of the Leg is definitely the Road Block of course. Kok boru is definitely a violent and aggressive sport. Pretty crazy! And certainly an SPG-type of thing. But we have teams doing a watered down version here. Unless of course we just go all out and do the real game. But I doubt we’d want that liability on our hands. Lol
Still, the hope is this task will be so physically difficult and demanding that teams will struggle mightily. Maybe even threats to quit! (But not actually quit, of course. We would hate that lol)
Finally, the nan eating is just an extra task to place the final Yield at. And a good extra Route Marker that could trip up teams before the SuperLeg surprise.
Overall, an exciting and action-packed Leg!