The time has come to announce the winner of our special Adventure Base “Spirit of the Rat Race prize” – the team that really stood out over the Series as embodying the “Spirit of the Rat Race” – a silver chalice of swashbuckling courage and epitomizes the fortitude and derring-do of you hardy bunch.

The prize: A Mega stay for 6 in Adventure Base’s super-cool Chalet Iceman deep in the French Alps, in the legendary mountain sports mecca of Chamonix, worth up to €2600. Check it all out here. With Mont Blanc towering above you from the living room window the adventure oozes from the front door. Will it be Europe’s best extreme off-piste skiing, nerve-wracking vertical ice-climbing ascents of frozen waterfalls, epic winter mountaineering or a serene flight over the valley by Paraglider? It’s all within a stone’s throw of your alpine Adventure Base. Read on below for a special offer for all of you this winter with Adventure Base.

The Nominees:

Bristol: Team “Oarsum,” for their awesome speed-dating skills to form a scratch team on the DAY of the event and the subsequent battle they staged againt top teams around them to achieve a top-3 podium finish. That is some “oarsum” teamwork chaps.

Edinburgh: Team “The Girl Does the Work,” who we clocked for the first time in Bristol and who then hot-footed it north of the border for Edinburgh. Their nomination is all about commitment, as we heard they were making a bit of a city-break series from various Rat Races, each one striking out further a-field from their base in Cardiff. From Bristol and Edinburgh it was then across the water to Galway and we hear they are eyeing up Melbourne Rat Race to top it all off. That is some commitment guys.

Sheffield: The nomination in Steel City goes to Team “Hallam FM” who found themselves in the Rat Race after responding to a Hallam FM Radio promotion. Having stepped up to the plate to take part in the full Weekender, they realized they had never done anything like this before. But they took a deep breath, pounded the streets all weekend and completed the whole event, with smiles attached. For showing nerves of Steel – well done Hallam FM.

Belfast: For one all female team in Belfast, Team “Blondes on Bikes,” there proved to be a few more challenges than usual in the Rat Race due to a mechanical on one of their bikes, to the point where they could no longer continue. Instead of calling it quits, in true Rat Race style they popped to their home nearby, picked up another bike and carried on. Fantastic spirit of the Rat Race.

London: Team “Gerbil Power” had similar bike problems when a team member’s bike fell to pieces at Mile End, miles from the finish. Instead of throwing in the towel she dumped the bike and ran the rest of the route all the way back to the finish with her team, via the remaining activities en route. An impressive feat over quite some distance.

As 1980’s action hero “The Highlander” once said: “There can be only one.” And that is Team Gerbil Power. From the gargantuan display of grit and determination across the Series from you all, we felt that their heroics were worthy of the prize and they find themselves winging their way to Chamonix for an amazing adventure this winter. Just check the car before you set off girls – it’s a long way to have to run if you have another “mechanical!”