Episode 3 Recap

Episode 3 saw our teams navigating from Dawson City, Yukon to Banff, Alberta a journey of nearly 2,700km.

The start featured a slight catch up from Episode 2, as Marc & Michael and Kevin & Claudia still had yet to reach the Yukon checkpoint. On arrival they discovered what the earlier teams heard last week - the last couple to get to Leg 3 checkpoint in the Rocky Mountain resort of Banff would be eliminated.

Claudia and Kevin

Probably the luckiest team this week, Claudia and Kevin managed to borrow a free car to drive a car to 'Uncle Norm' to Edmonton, the capital of Alberta. And on arrival the laid back Uncle Norm easily agreed they could all just drive on to Banff - aiding the team to close their last place 46 hours behind the leaders in leg two, to a 5.5hour gap when they arrived in 3rd place!

It wasn't all easy traveling, Claudia was upset at missing Lake Louise and with 49% of their budget left, they have the lowest funds available for the rest of the journey.

Monique and Ladi

Monique and Ladi remain the most positive team despite all setbacks, which this week seemed pretty dire. Monique required 6 stitches and was struggling to walk, so her and Ladi lost 3.5 hours before even leaving Dawson City. They managed to secure a free RV hire, although the quality left a little to be desired, with plastic covered windows flapping in the wind providing the sound track to their drive.

Ladi of course remained upbeat and found them work on their way, so while they dropped from 2nd to 4th this leg they also end the episode with the largest budget going forwards at 62%.

Zainib and Mobeen

Zainib and Mobeen looked like they would make fast progress, finding the free RV hire solution, and securing a slightly more respectable looking vehicle than Monique and Ladi.

While they managed to close the gap between them and the race leaders, they didn't make as big a dent as Kevin and Claudia, but they did top up their funds, leaving them in second place for both position and funds. They also seem like one of the strongest couples, their travel and work bringing them together which should help them continue to perform well.

Tricia and Cathie

The ladies started well ahead of the others, leaving before the last two teams even arrived. However after some work in Grande Prairie, they got stuck for over 20 hours, eating into their advantage.

Like Zainib and Mobeen however, their challenges were overcome well as a team, from the emotional struggles finding lifts, to dealing with the uncomfortable height of the cable car. With a decent budget remaining, and the support of each other to keep them going, Tricia and Cathie remain a strong team with a decent lead.

Marc and Michael

Marc and Michael never entirely seemed to find their footing this week. Despite making some travel friends and getting a little more relaxed about traveling, they never quite got into the spirt of the race. They might have been Google AI's hot prediction for this weeks winner(!), but they ended up eliminated, only 70% of the way through the trip to Banff when all the other teams had arrived.

I think the brothers both got a lot from their journey though, and it will be nice to see how they feel about it all in the "post-race-catch-up" episode 9.

Episode 3 - Leaderboard

• 1st -  Tricia & Cathie (58% Budget)
• 2nd - Zainib & Mobeen +4 hours (61% Budget)
• 3rd - Claudia and Kevin +5.5 hours (49% Budget)
• 4th - Monique and Ladi +7 hours (62% Budget)

EPISODE 4

Next week the teams will be heading Churchill, Manitoba - an extremely isolated location with no road links to the rest of Canada 😬

Think you can predict who'll get there first? Make your Episode four prediction here.