Tumbler Ridge Geopark Executive Director discusses “Geoquest” anniversary race

TUMBLER RIDGE, B.C. – More information has been revealed regarding next month’s 10-year anniversary celebration for the Tumbler Ridge UNESCO Global Geopark.

Manda Maggs, the park’s Executive Director, discussed the “Geoquest” competition on the June 21st episode of This Week in the Peace.

The event will see teams of four people ages 16 and up competing to complete a series of tasks around the park, inspired by the Amazing Race TV show.

According to Maggs, the event is meant to help showcase some of the unique attractions within the park, including a wide array of fossils found nowhere else in the world.

“We’ve got more than half the world’s tyrannosaur trackways, we’ve got about 500 million years of biological history and fossil history, and 728 [million] of sedimentology,” Maggs said. 

“It’s quite a span of age in a relatively small place.”

The park spans roughly 8,500 square kilometres, or more than 2,000,000 acres, according to Maggs.

The event is designed to celebrate and thank the community that has supported the park throughout the past decade. 

“The designation really helped [the park] get a platform to promote it, and unify it as a theme,” Maggs explained.

“Anything you want to do outdoors you can make happen here in Tumbler Ridge, it’s got lots going for it,” Maggs said. 

Maggs added the event is “social and interactive,” and open to people who do not consider themselves avid outdoors people.

“These [challenges] are not all physical,” Maggs added. “It’s definitely something that a wide range of physical capabilities could do.”

Participants have a set amount of time to complete ten tasks within the race in teams. After the race concludes, participants and members of the public will get to enjoy a free barbecue.

The “Geoquest” event is happening July 27th. Teams can register by calling the Tumbler Ridge Visitor Centre. Registration costs $100 per team.