How do you feel to have made it this far in the race, with just the final leg to complete?

Ladi: It’s great to have got this far and to know that the end is in sight. The epic highs and lows of the journey and now we’re getting to the business end of everything and we’re in a great position to go on and finish this – whatever happens next, we would have finished it, we would of made the whole journey.

Monique: It’s exciting. You enter this journey not having any idea on how it’s going to go or what’s going to happen. Me and Dad have both faced injuries, we’ve had highs and we’ve had lows so to get to this point is really exciting. To get this far has just added fuel to us because we want to get to the end, and we want to finish strong.

What has been the highlight of your experience so far?

Ladi: For me, I couldn’t pick one single highlight because there has been so many throughout our journey. Places, people, experiences, there are too many from this journey up until now to choose just one distinct moment.

Monique: We’ve experienced so much that to choose a highlight wouldn’t do the other moments justice. There’s been some epic highs like getting to Banff and still being a part of the race, knowing we get to continue on our epic journey – that was exciting. Lots of little moments like canoeing with Dad, the people we met along the way, staying with Kat in the last leg because that was the first time we’d stayed in someone’s house. There were lots of first and lots of highs and all of those added to the epic journey in its entirety.

What’s your biggest lesson from the journey so far?

Ladi: As I’ve said at previous parts of the journey, there are more good people than bad in the world – definitely. And kindness you do repay with kindness. To me, that is fundamental.

Monique: For me, my biggest takeaway from this will be don’t hold back. Whatever you do, you have to be so invested in it and not be scared to do things outside of your comfort zone. We all get into this mundane lifestyle, nine to five, going through the motions and we don’t really stop to look around and experience things in life. The race so far has taught me to do that, and by doing that I’ve learnt a lot about myself, other people and other cultures and I think that’s really important. Being openminded to new things makes you a better, well-rounded person and you can really surprise yourself.

What would winning the race mean to you?

Ladi: I’m not going to lie, I’m here to win. That’s why we enter these things. Winning the race will mark the end of an important life moment for me and my daughter, definitely. As I said right at the beginning, I’m never going to get this time again with my daughter. We came into this competition to win it but overriding the win is just getting to the end and completing a mission that we started but more importantly, completing it with my daughter and having that time with her. That is the most important thing.

Monique: Me and Dad are so competitive, we wouldn’t ever enter a competition to just complete it – we want to win, we want to go for gold. Up until this point we haven’t actually won a leg so I think it’s well overdue that we win! Like Dad said, getting to complete this journey and experience things that some people will never ever experience is so magnificent and so special. So, whatever the outcomes is – I’m so happy that I’ve done it with Dad.

If you don’t win, who would you want to win?

Ladi: That is a really tough question. Zainib and Mobeen have run their own race and have done it in their own way. They’ve made discoveries about themselves that they probably would have found challenging if they had not done the race. But everyone deserves it. Everyone has worked hard, everyone’s gone on a journey to get here, with highs and lows, adversity and brilliant luck.

Monique: Zainib and Mobeen. I see a lot of similarities in myself and Zainib and I think their story and journey so far has been epic. They’ve really immersed themselves in the Canadian culture. I think a lot of us have, we’ve all experienced different things but I think they’ve really ran their own race. But - everyone is deserving of it!