SAM HAY DECLARES!

 THE EXAMINER: A former Amazing Race contestant is set to run for a position at the City of Launceston council.............................. Local retail and finance business owner Sam Hay competed on the hit reality show with his best mate Geoff Stick in 2012. ............................. Now, almost a decade later, the 34-year-old has decided a future in local government was the right move to make. "Every little section of the community has their own issues, and I feel that there's a little bit of a disconnect at the moment between them and the council," he said.............................. "One thing that the council is also lacking is someone by eg to represent the younger generation, especially with compulsory voting this year, ............................. Mr Hay also said he would like to pay particular attention to issues in the hospitality industry, as well to Launceston's unprecedented homeless crisis. ............................. "I'm going to listen to and try and help as many people as I can," he said.

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LAUNCESTON best mates Geoff Stick and Sam Hay are the first Tasmanians to compete in reality television show The Amazing Race. ....................... The Australian series was filmed last year but the 24-year-olds were unable to tell family and friends about their participation in the show until this week. ....................... The Amazing Race is a competition that sees 11 teams of two travelling to various countries and undertaking physical and mental challenges. ....................... When Stick and Hay found out that they had been chosen for the show, they had to lie about where they were going for about six months. ....................... Hay quit his job at a bank and said he was moving to Queensland, and Stick said he was going on holidays. ....................... The pair entered the show because of Stick's strong desire to be involved. ....................... ``I've always watched the show - I entered for the last series with a different mate, saw the ads for this and thought I would enter again,'' he said. ....................... ``I liked the fact you got to race around the world with a friend, and you do it in a competitive environment.'' ....................... Hay said he was not as keen as his friend to enter but thought they should give it a go. ....................... ``I enjoy travelling, am competitive as hell and saw it as an awesome opportunity,'' he said. ....................... ``We were living together at the time, we're best mates . . . so I thought: why not?'' ....................... When asked if they had a strategy, the pair were tight-lipped and said they could not reveal too much about the soon-to-be-aired show. ....................... ``You can't really prepare. We watched a lot of last season . . . and talked about going to the gym to get a bit fitter, but that never happened,'' Stick said. ....................... He said one of the obvious challenges was the fact that he only had one hand, which could have posed a problem for challenges that required two hands.