KINGSLEY FIELD, Ore. -- Seven teams competed in the first ever Team Kingsley “Amazing Race” on July 21, 2023. The event was hosted by the Kingsley Field Rising Six, Health Education Awareness Team, and the Oregon Enlisted Association of the National Guard.
“Our goal with this event was to build base morale and comradery while spreading awareness of our different organizations,” said Senior Airman Cienna Schuster Oates, the lead organizer for the event.
Teams started at the break area behind the Resiliency Operations and had to work their way through ten different booths situated all around the base. These booths included a variety of physical and mental tasks including building a computer at the Comm Flight building, arranging a ribbon rack with the Force Support Flight, rolling a tire around the vehicle maintenance compound, taking a selfie with the Wing Commander, and much more. When a team completed a challenge, they were presented a ribbon to attach to a staff. Once all ten ribbons were attached, they raced back to the Resiliency Operations Center to complete the race.
The first team to complete the race this year was the “173 OG”, represented by multiple members of the Operations Group.
Other awards were presented following the completion of the race. “Most Persistent” went to “Rachel and the Boys”, and “Octopada” from the Force Support Flight were presented with “Most Enthusiastic.” The Logistics Readiness Squadron booth, with a frisbee golf style event, was voted “Best Booth” by the competing teams.
“I enjoyed seeing and hearing how excited the booth volunteers and participants in the race were from the beginning,” said Schuster Oates. “It can be challenging to bring folks out of their work centers but once they get out of their comfort zones, you see the comradery build within the group and others via friendly competition.”
The organizers hope to host this event again next year with more teams and more events. “There will be small changes if we do this same event next year, but we would love to have more participants if it does happen,” said Schuster Oates.
The Rising Six is a professional development organization which hosts various courses, as well as events such as the this.
“Our goal is to provide the members of Kingsley Field with continuous learning opportunities,” said Tech. Sgt. Michael Daniel, the Rising Six president.
All Team Kingsley members, E-1 to E-6, are eligible to join the Rising Six. Monthly meetings are held on the first Tuesday of every month at 1400 in the Mission Support Group conference room.