In 2003,
City Chase founder Nick Jelinek planned a scavenger-hunt urban adventure race in Toronto. According to the organization's Lauren Habib, he wanted to do something along the lines of
The Amazing Race that ordinary people could participate in, and that could explore a city through its operation.
Seven years after the first race was staged in Toronto, the organization is preparing for its
100th race -- back home here in Hogtown. The milestone race will kick off with participants rappelling down Toronto's iconic city hall, perhaps a symbol of the heights to which the company has grown since its founding.
From a one-man organization, City Chase has grown to employ six people full-time in its Mississauga head office, and it contracts others to run races in cities across the country and in more than 14 other countries around the world. The private, for-profit company has also managed to raise $300,000 in the past two years in Canada for it's charitable partner, Right To Play, and has set a goal of raising $200,000 for the charity this year.
According to Habib, the organization continues to grow -- last year it launched "Campus Chase" and it continually sets up test markets and adds new cities around the world to its roster.
Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Lauren Habib, City Chase
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