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Lakehead University drones featured on Amazing Race Canada (3 Photos)

The Thunder Bay episode will be televised Tuesday, Aug. 27.

THUNDER BAY — When teams participating in the current season of CTV's Amazing Race Canada arrived in Thunder Bay in May, they were confronted with the challenge of learning to fly an airborne drone.

Competing in a field off Highway 61, the contestants had to operate a drone in an event that included what Lakehead University's Ulf Runesson describes as a unique twist.

But under the strict confidentiality rules imposed by the producers of the show, Runesson can't say anything more than that.

He's the dean of LU's Faculty of Natural Resources Management, which was approached by Amazing Race Canada to help create one of the challenges for the episode scheduled for broadcast Tuesday, Aug. 27 on Thunder Bay Television-CKPR.

The natural resources management program has utilized drones for the past seven or eight years as part of the work it does on remote sensing.

"The Amazing Race people connected with us, because they know we do training, and we got talking. One thing led to another, and it worked out," Runesson said in an interview Wednesday.

The teams were taken to the university's drone training field where they had to quickly learn how to fly a device by remote control.

Runesson said the show producers "had their own little twist on it, which made it even more fun for us because we could watch what they were doing."

He's proud that his program was able to participate in the award-winning reality TV series.

"I've been here a long time, over 30 years. To me, this shows the enthusiasm that we have, not just for the faculty. This is a Lakehead University example of community outreach. And what the Amazing Race did with my faculty is a typical example of the hands-on engagement we have with our students."

Runesson said LU also does extensive training in drone operation for other organizations including various provincial government ministries, mining companies and others.

"We jumped on board with this. We thought this was a good way to illustrate the engaged approach that Lakehead takes. There was no financial involvement except we put a lot of effort in," he said.

Other locations where the Amazing Race contestants were taken to in Thunder Bay included the Thunder Oak Cheese Farm, Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park, the Terry Fox Lookout and a local axe-throwing lounge.



Gary Rinne

About the Author: Gary Rinne

Born and raised in Thunder Bay, Gary started part-time at Tbnewswatch in 2016 after retiring from the CBC
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