ISU students spread across campus Saturday as part of the first ever CyMazing Challenge.

The event, modeled after “The Amazing Race” TV series, sent teams of four participants on a chase around the university where they were faced with various mental and physical challenges.

Competitors started the race at the Alumni Center, where they had to blow cups off a table with a balloon, run across the parking lot while using clipboards to pass a birdie back and forth and try to pour a 2-liter bottle full of mints into another bottle.

The race then progressed through different locations such as Jack Trice Stadium, Central Campus, State Gym, the Memorial Union and Gerdin Business Building. Some teams chose to sprint the entire way, while others eventually slowed to a brisk walk instead.

At each location, teams had to decipher clues in order to find the next destination. The different stops also featured challenges such as rock climbing, bowling and ISU trivia.

Kallie Kollmorgen, junior in mathematics, signed up to compete with her team because she wants to be on the TV show itself.

“I actually watch ‘The Amazing Race’ and I’m going to apply,” Kollmorgen said. “This is basically like my practice.”

Others, like Emily Soyer, junior in accounting, and her team, chose to participate purely for the fun.

“I used to watch the show when I was little and it’s a fun challenge; it looked interesting,” Soyer said.

The Student Alumni Leadership Council, which hosted the event, provided T-shirts and Insomnia Cookies to all participants at the finish line. The winning team also received $50 Visa gift cards.

SALC member Janelle Gibney, junior in psychology, said the CyMazing Challenge was designed to be more than just a simple competition.

“We did this event to make students more aware of what resources are available to them at Iowa State, so we tried to utilize a lot of different things along the way,” Gibney said. “It was also a physical race; our contestants were running over two miles today to complete it.”

Despite wet conditions, 24 teams competed in this year’s inaugural event.

According to SALC vice president Erin McDermott, senior in communications studies, the CyMazing Challenge is just one of the many events the group organizes throughout the year.

“The Student Alumni Leadership Council is a bunch of different committees that do lots of different events with students,” McDermott said. “Its comprised of Cyclone Alley, Homecoming, [SALC] Ambassadors and Senior Class Council, and then we do marketing, too.”