EVENTS & NEWS

With 750 individuals taking part, it was the biggest-ever UK adventure race, attracting many AR newcomers and also luring back a few past racers who couldn’t resist being part of this special race. The Mean Streets Prologue took teams out as far as Primrose Hill, into several parks, across numerous bridges including the Millennium Bridge, and to iconic places like the London Eye, Tower of London and Buckingham Palace. CPs included the doorman at the Ritz; the museum at 221B Baker Street; a bewigged barrister at Grays Inn; the Telecom Tower; and, more mysteriously, two pubs. 

Prologue Challenges included singing; dancing at the Ministry of Sound; eating jellied eels; flicking beermats; watching James scramble both over netting and the unfortunate Kiwi competition on the guns outside the Imperial War Museum; and rolling poor Simon down a flight of steps and across Paternoster Square (encased in a Sumo suit and padded helmet); as well as indoor ice climbing in freezing conditions in Covent Garden; identifying TV commercial brands in a Soho ad agency; and parkour by the NFT - often to the baffled amusement of spectators. 

Then on Sunday, in perfect sunny weather conditions, clutching 3 different maps, we began at 7.30 am with a run over the Millennium Bridge, where we were given yet another map from Google Earth, marked with aerial views of orienteering CPs in the City, and back over Tower Bridge, before setting off on our bikes out of the city through Westminster, down a flight of steps (I lifted my bike courteously over the competitor who had been in front of me...), across Hyde Park towards Richmond Park - another orienteering section risking ticks, deer and foot and mouth - via Hammersmith and some innovative challenges at Fullers Brewery  - assembling a hoarding-size jigsaw, biking up, over and off delivery wagons, and of course rolling out the barrel. 

Then it was on to Twickenham Stadium (where we got to score a try each), back to Richmond Park via a bracing jump into the Thames, a swim out to a mermaid on a raft and out up a net after a zipwire over water for me and James, and a tricky rope-bridge to traverse for Simon, before biking back to Wimbledon Common for anyone who hadnt had enough orienteering – and Putney Heath, then a fast track down to Barnes... 

The kayaking stage at nearby Putney was made all the more interesting by the exceptional spring tides ­ we were kayaking 20 feet higher than the first to arrive and by the time we returned from a circuit of buoys on the far bank of the Thames, edging our way back , hugging the bank, paddling against the flood, the road where we first jumped onto the sit-on-top canoes had completely disappeared underwater! 

The finale was some ship orienteering’ on HMS Belfast, and the finish line was busy for over 4 hours as teams came in, exhausted, but elated after a unique day of London sightseeing! First over the line were teams The North Face and Aberdeen Asset Management, who had raced much of the way together. As a result of their Prologue performance it was Aberdeen Asset Management who won the race and the impressive series prize of a trip to Trinidad & Tobago. We AOAC boys came in just before the cut-off at 6.30pm... 

A full race report and lots of photos are at http://www.sleepmonsters.co.uk/photoshop.php and the full results on the Rat Race website. http://www.ratraceadventure.com/ Simons navigation and complicated triple map origami was spot on throughout - we got max points on orienteering in the City - double the score of the first 10 teams – and James kept up my morale and helped satisfy my appetite for Power bars, Go bars, Torq bars, High 5 gels, and isotonic fluids etc as I puffed along behind - the other two subsisted on a diet of pork scratchings (yes, really) not even touching their Sport Jelly Beans...having so much fun even a puncture in the last half-hour didnt dampen our spirits... Racing as S.W.A.R.T, (South West Adventure Racing Team) we came 94 overall out of 179. We sacrificed some places to spend more time queuing for challenges...it was well worth waiting the 40 minutes to free abseil hundreds of feet off Twickenham Rugby Stadium! 

So will you be joining us next year? Some less dedicated teams just treated it as a cracking day out - skipping the orienteering and blisters, enjoying riverside picnic stops, and refuelling at cafés en route...so thats where we went wrong! Oh, and we could all warm up with the Bristol Rat Race next year too! 

(adapted from a press release by Rob Howard) 

Jeremy -- Tel/fax: 0117 914 5737 Mobile: 07734 111 352 25, Cliftonwood Crescent Bristol BS8 4TU