The Race Begins
Our contestants are all lined up in front of Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo. The Teams have no idea where they are headed. They only know that the clue to their next destination is sealed in an envelope waiting on top of their backpacks.

Amanxing Race host Phil Kiwi signals the start of the race, and the teams rush to rip open their envelopes. The instructions say they are to fly to Portland, Maine.

And they're off!

Kentucky Derby winning horses War Emblem and Monarchos take an early lead, with polar bear brother and sister Klondike and Snow close behind. Koko, the talking gorilla, with his Manx cat team mate Smoky, runs up to a zoo visitor and signs "Fly fly plane fly" and gets directions to O'Hare.

Spotty and Barney, and Ernie and Socks, the White House pairs, both head to the Fullerton El stop, followed by the Brown County cats, Pinta and Climber.

Nobody has noticed that savvy Chicagoan running mates Bella and Douglas have taken a cab to the Blue Line and are 30 minutes ahead of the other pairs.

Fur Flies at O'Hare
Chaos reigns at O'Hare as the animal pairs run into the United terminal. Bella and Douglas get a direct flight to Portland, as do War Emblem and Monarchos, Klondike and Snow, the Friskies Chef's Blend and Fancy Feast spokescats, and the two White House pairs.

F. F. and C. B. have already begun to argue and hiss at each other, and they push Koko and Smoky out of the way at the counter. Raccoon rommates Cassie and Skinny Boy are a little behind because of Cassie's lame back leg, and are connecting through New York. Koko and Smoky will go through Halifax. "Sad sad Koko sad," signs Koko.

But where are Climber and Pinta? They've taken the cheaper route through Midway, stopping in Manchester, NH. Things are going in an orderly fashion at Midway until screams are heard and people begin running for the exits. No need to worry, it's just the arrival of the skunks, who get on the same flight.

The Maine Event
Upon arrival in Portland, each team receives an envelope marked ROAD BLOCK, with instructions to go to Portland Head Lighthouse and find the lobster buoy with their names on it.

A ROAD BLOCK is a task in which only one member of the two-critter Team may participate; in most cases, the other member must wait for the partner to accomplish the goal.

One member will have to jump into the water. Monarchos swims out and immediately finds his buoy, followed by Spotty, Koko (who arrived about the same time as the others), Klondike, Ernie, and a reluctant Douglas. F.F. and C.B. get into a huge fight, F.F. not wanting to get her world-renowned silver coat dirty, so C.B. has to find it.

While C.B. is swimming, the New Hampshire gang is arriving at the Portland airport, but oh no! There's a security scare at New York. Cassie and Skinny Boy may be delayed!

Once the appropriate buoy is found, the teams receive their next clues; to find the Portland Pet Sematary, which will be their Pet Stop for the night and for this leg of the race.

The horses get immediate attention and directions, but the polar bears scare away passers-by. Meanwhile, Bella and Douglas share a cab to the Sematary with Ernie and Socks.

Back at the Lighthouse, Hedley and Pinta swim to get their buoys. The polar bears are still trying for directions. Finally, the raccoons get a flight out of New York.

A King Crowns the Winners
War Emblem and Monarchos run, neck and neck, into the Portland Pet Sematary until they see host Phil Kiwi standing at the "Here Lies Churchill" gravesite. Next to him is a scary-looking man with thick glasses, holding a Maine Coon cat.

"Welcome to Maine," says Stephen King.

The teams file in. Ernie and Socks second, Bella and Douglas third, Koko and Smoky fourth, all the way down to the last few stragglers, the raccoons who finally made it out of New York.

"Cassie and Skinny Boy..... you're the last team to arrive". I'm sorry to say you've been eliminated from The Amanxing Race."

"It was great just to be a part of the race", says the lame Cassie. "Maybe this will give hope to other three-legged raccoons out there."

On to episode 2 ->

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