Maybe this will be the year Pregnant Reggae Band is defeated in the CyMazing Challenge. Maybe not. 

This year will be the third annual CyMazing Challenge, a test of participants’ skill, physique and knowledge about Iowa State University that was originally modeled after “The Amazing Race.” 

Students will travel in teams around campus to different locations such as Jack Trice Stadium, State Gym and the Memorial Union. One team, Pregnant Reggae Band, has won the title the past two years. It will compete again this year but with two new members. 

Tasks usually have a creative twist. In 2015, the event included a race, a task of blowing cups off a table with a balloon and passing a birdie back and forth with clipboards while running across the parking lot and trying to pour a 2-liter bottle full of mints into another bottle. 

Team member Tad Beekmam, junior in food science, said he does not prepare in advance for the CyMazing Challenge. He just arrives and gives it his all. 

John Kocur, senior in construction engineering, said he has prepared by eating a well-balanced breakfast every morning, doing 500 pushups each day and going on a run to keep his body in “tip-top shape.” 

“The CyMazing Challenge is an awesome opportunity to have fun competing for a few hours on campus and lets us go all out,” Beekman said. “Pregnant Reggae Band isn’t just a team name, it’s a mentality and way of life.”

The team this year includes Beekman; Kocur; Grace Bjorland, senior in materials engineering; and Dalton Gackle, senior in journalism and history. 

Pregnant Reggae Band will compete for its third straight title at 11 a.m. Sunday, beginning at the Student Alumni Center.  

Kocur said “losing will not be an option this year.”