'What are we in for?': Winnipeg's Amazing Race team gets advice from first winner

On Wednesday, Ahmed and Chutta had the opportunity to meet with Tim Hague Sr., winner of the first season of The Amazing Race Canada ten years ago. (Source: Gary Robson, CTV News)

Winnipeg's current contestants on The Amazing Race Canada are hoping to follow in the footsteps of the show's first winner, also from Winnipeg.

Anwar Ahmed and Ben Chutta grew up in Winnipeg. Childhood friends, their families came to Canada as refugees.

Now the two are among the five teams left competing in season nine of The Amazing Race Canada. Ahmed said it's been an incredible experience.

"We started in Winnipeg, then we flew to Calgary," he said. "I saw Ben scaling a building and said to one of the other contestants, 'we were in Winnipeg, Manitoba this morning and now Ben's scaling a building in Calgary. What are we in for?'"

On Wednesday, Ahmed and Chutta had the opportunity to meet with Tim Hague Sr., winner of the first season of The Amazing Race Canada ten years ago.

Hague, also from Winnipeg, said winning the race showed him he could do more than he thought.

"Going into the race, I didn’t know that I could do this, I didn’t know that I had that capability in me," he said. "But we surprise ourselves some days…and it takes us to places we never dreamt of."

Hague has become a public speaker since winning the race, talking about his struggle with Parkinson's disease in front of audiences around the world.

"I spoke for five minutes back in 2013 at the Montreal World Parkinson's Congress, and that five minutes has literally taken me around the world," Hague said.

Hague has also become involved with the PD Avengers, and founded his own non-profit organization called U-Turn Parkinson's.

U-turn Parkinson's, which takes its name from an Amazing Race tactic, is sponsoring a Parkinson's walk on Sept. 9 in Winnipeg.

Hague said there are an estimated 10 million people in the world living with Parkinson's, with more cases being diagnosed every day.

"There is a tsunami of Parkinson's coming, and we need to do something about it."

Ahmed and Chutta met Hague at his Winnipeg home. The three shared their Amazing Race experiences with each other. Ahmed said even if they don't win this year's race, they'll still try to follow Hague's example.

"Both Ben and I have always wanted to give back and to work with youth," Ahmed said. "And to help people who look like us not have to go through so many hurdles, the same hurdles that we did."

"It's an opportunity for us to go and speak to the kids that live there now and use our platform to help them realize what they're capable of," added Chutta.

Hague has been cheering for the Winnipeg team all season.

"It's great watching Ben and Anwar on this season's race. We're really rooting for them. We're hoping they bring a back-to-back win for Winnipeg."