By BARRY FOSTER
News-Sun correspondent
LAKE PLACID - Most people have heard of "The Amazing Race," an American reality show where couples have to make their way across various parts of the country, accomplishing tasks of varying difficulty faster and more efficiently than their competition.
What many don't know is there also is a French version and they have had parts of their competition here in the United States. The uninformed included Anthony Haney of the Lake Placid Camp & Conference Center, who came upon the group Sunday after church. He decided to give one of the couples a ride, but it took them a while to finally get them in a vehicle.
"When we first saw them we were taking a test drive in a car we were looking to buy," Haney said. "They were yelling at us to give them a ride and I rolled down the window and said 'I can't - this is not my car'."
It was then Haney decided to give them a ride. So he returned the loaner and went back and got the big gold LPCCC van.
"We got up there and discovered we were almost out of gas, so I had to yell at them again to wait," he said.
When Haney pulled into the service station he was beset by cameramen, filming him gassing up the vehicle then jumping into the van in order to film him picking up the couple.
The pair, identified as Julie and Denis, apparently are from the Isle of Elba. While Denis spoke no English, his companion Julie did speak enough to converse. According to her accounts, the group had started with challenges in Havana, Cuba and were not impressed with the island nation.
"She said everything there was very run down and the streets look like a 1950s car show," he said. "They said accomplishing their task had been very difficult there."
From Cuba, the couple has fulfilled challenges in Mexico City, New Orleans, Dothan, Ala., Tallahassee, and most recently in Ocala. There, the pair were tied back to back and forced to navigate their way through the Ocala National Forest.
"She asked if we were familiar with the love bug," Haney said. "I assured her we were . She said 'it was like that'."
Apart from the scripted times when the two were asked to discuss their strategy for the race, Haney said the pair was quite interested in the amount of orange groves and cattle pastures that lined the highway between LaBelle and the Caladium Capital of the World.
"We had a good time telling them about Highlands County. We told them about the 12 Hours of Sebring, explained the history of the area and what we do at the camp and conference center," Haney said.
Known as "Amazing Race: the biggest race around the world," the French version of the show is produced by Shine France in association with ABC Studios. It is distributed by The Walt Disney Company France and is hosted by famous french news and sportscaster Alexandre Delpérier.
Accompanying Haney was his 17-year-old son, Levi. Haney said that since their excursion and appearance on European television, his "dad coolness level" has "shot off the chart."
"I guess I'm awesome now," he said with a laugh.
Like its American counterpart, "The Amazing Race: France" involves a competition between teams of two in a race around the world.
The race is divided into a number of legs wherein teams travel and complete various tasks to obtain clues to help them progress to a pit stop where teams are given a chance to rest and recover before starting the next leg; the last team to arrive is normally eliminated from the race (except in non-elimination legs). The final leg of each race is run by the last three remaining teams, and the first to arrive at the final destination wins a grand prize of $50,000.
Haney said he did his part; Julie and Denis were second on their leg of the competition.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013 - www.newssun.com/021313-great-race-france