Wahines Gone Wild (for Red Bull)
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UH psychology majors Kate McClelland, Marisa Griffin and Leanne Horvitz are stoked! They need your support to travel across Europe and win the Red Bull Can You Make It?! Contest where their mission is to go from Berlin on Oct. 24 and end up in Paris eight days later at 6 p.m. Oct. 31 without cash or credit cards or their personal cell phones. Instead, they trade the energy drink Red Bull for their transportation, lodging and food. Although their Wahines Gone Wild team of three has pearly white smiles and the eyelash-batting strategies that can match the strength of the rippling muscles of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, they still need you to log onto the website and register as a fan.
“We want to win it,” Griffin says with great enthusiasm. “And the more fans we get it helps our rankings go to the top. We just found out if you have fans in Europe they can help you as long as it isn’t prearranged.”
The Wahines Gone Wild can win based on a point system, which includes how many of the 15 checkpoints they go to where they will have their Red Bull supply replenished. The points also take into account the distance traveled, and the number of votes they receive on the Internet. As of press time, Wahines Gone Wild is among the top 10 teams in the rankings.
They don’t speak all the languages they may need on their trip, so they’re bringing a translation book of phrases.
Speaking of books, school is still in session.
“We thought it was worth it to miss school,” the women chuckle heartily.
This contest has 250 teams, each consisting of three students. There are five teams representing the United States including Hawaiai’s Wahines Gone Wild. Other teams are from Switzerland, Spain, Slovenia, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Ireland, Hungary, France, Germany, England, Belgium, Austria and the Czech Republic. At the starting point, the teams will be issued Red Bull cell phones they will use to update their blogs online every 24 hours so fans can track their progress. Besides Berlin, there are four other starting places for the 750 students - Manchester, Budapest, Madrid and Rome. They’ll be using whatever resources life has equipped them with so far.
What do they win?
Griffin says she’s tried to pry out what the mystery prize will be from contest organizers.
“All they say is ‘they are flying us to Europe and the prize will be bigger than that,’” reveals Griffin.
The friends are each the youngest woman in her family. They enjoy surfing, hiking, par-tying, going on adventures and spending time with Leanne’s dog, Cupcake, a mixed Lab she shares with her boyfriend. Horvitz and Griffin are roommates in Manoa.
LEANNE HORVITZ
University of Hawaii psychology major, senior, graduating in December, member of the UH Sailing team
Home state: California
Been to Europe before: France and England
Family: Has one older brother. Parents are retired now. Dad worked as an engineer, mom worked as a finance manager.
Position: The friendly one “I’m not really good with maps or stuff like that,” admits Horvitz. “I think I’m really friendly and outgoing. I always feel like I can nudge my way into people’s hearts and they’ll do a lot of stuff for us.”
MARISA GRIFFIN
University of Hawaii psychology and communications major, junior
Home state: California
Been to Europe before: France and England
Family: the youngest of three with two older brothers. Dad owns West LA Music, which sells band and recording equipment in Santa Monica
Position: The responsible one “We voted that I was the most responsible of the three of us. I’ll probably be the one initiating all the trades and stuff.”
KATE MCCLELLAND
University of Hawaii psychology major, junior
Home state: Alaska
Been to Europe before: No
Family: Has an older sister. Mom is an event planner. Dad works with an oil company.
Position: The crazy one “I don’t have a problem talking to anyone,” says McClelland. “I’m outgoing, and I’m the more random one.”
A friend who works for Red
Bull told them about the contest.
“We definitely can win this,” Griffin recalls thinking.“Let’s just try to film a video. We wanted to make it fun and like crazy.”
The psychology majors took turns on the video camera starting on a Sunday night before the sun went down to fulfill the criteria of showing how they could get a ride, a meal and a place to sleep using only Red Bull for trade. Their three-minute video, edited by their friend Keoki Heller of surfpixhawaii.com, pulsates with music and opens with each of the bikini-clad students introducing herself while doing a somersault on Waikiki Beach.
“We didn’t know we were going to put that in the video, we were just messing around,” adds Horvitz.
Wahines Gone Wild was selected as winner to represent the United States, and the team has more than 163 fans registered so far. They’ve already gotten a couple of tips. A friend of a friend warned:“German men are friendly and French men are not.” Another warning is that it may be hard for Horvitz to be a vegetarian in Europe.
What’s your advice?
To register as fan or follow their adventures online, log onto redbullcanyoumakeit.com.
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