News

Season’s Greetings Ratfans

We’re in the Festive spirit so we thought we’d take this opportunity to drop something out of Santa’s sack onto your doorstep – the RATMAG! We don’t do this very often and we do hope you enjoy it.

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.

Greetings Ratfans,

The Rat Race season is in full swing, and recently ratified locations Belfast, Sheffield, Edinburgh and Bristol have been absolute belters. Next up, our sojourn on the Emerald Isle continues with a classic outing in Galway on 5th and 6th September, followed by the UK season finale in London on 26th and 27th September. Then, the Rat goes down under to ratify Perth on 7th and 8th November and back to mighty Melbourne on 28th and 29th November

Greetings Ratfans,

The season is now in full swing and next up for Ratification is Sheffield, this coming weekend on the 1st and 2nd August. Entries are still open. We bring you a season update with news of races near and far and other ratifying facts and figures from across the land…

Hello Ratfans,

Next weekend sees the Rat touch down in one of our all time favourite haunts – Bristol! Entries are still open (just) so get on down to http://ratraceadventure.com/bristol/ and check out the super cool capital of the Wez Cunree and see the pictures of what we’ve thrown at Bristol Rat Racers in years gone by. In this month’s newsletter, we’ve got a few diamond offers for you and we bring you news of a Steel Works in Sheffield and bungee jumping in London…

Greetings Rat Fans!

The Rat Race season is almost upon us. We bring you tidings of man-sized running Rats, some announcements on our Men’s Health Survival events and a great offer from Men’s Health magazine. Plus a preview on our newest Rat Race in Sheffield and a round-up of current Rat Race competitions for you to enter!

Hello Ratfans,

As we march towards the summer, the momentum is building here in Rat HQ for the spectacular urban adventures we have lined up for you this year. Read on to find out about our 2009 YOUTH events, some preview info on our new SHEFFIELD event, announcement of our 2009 charity partnership with CLIC SARGENT, another monthly competition and some info on our new SKYLINE ABSEIL initiative, towering over this summer’s Rat Race event villages nationwide.

Greetings Ratfans,

The days are getting longer and our winter hibernation will soon be replaced with the joys of Spring! And what joy - 8 UK Rat Race dates stretching before us, including a NEW adventure challenge in Sheffield, 2 adventure races in Ireland and a smorgasbord of global Rat Races joining the throng too. Plus the opening of our very own online Rat Race Adventure Store, the start of our monthly competitions and much more besides…

We thought we’d join in the Festivities so here’s some classic Yuletide fare from the Rat Race adventure challenge. Whether you are busy helping a Fat Man squeeze down a chimney or simply tending your flock in anticipation of the big day, grab yourself a pressie from under the Rat Race tree this Christmas…

Well, another Rat-tastic season draws to a close and what a year it has been. Here is a wrap up of the year’s action and a preview of next year's adventure challenge – the Rat continues to rock out across the land and further a-field, with loads of locations on the cards and a “smokin’ hot” Gunpowder Plot Early Bird deal for those who fancy saving some cash and signing up this November…

Hope you all had massive success at the Spring Carnival and are now ready to assault the Rat Race course on the weekend of 22/23 November.  We were down near Flemington the other day, but not to bet on horses...
 
We have some great prizes and spot prizes from our friends from Paddy Pallin, Ausway, Keen, Waterfront City, GFore, Club Lifestyle - more to come.  Stay tuned for full prize list next email.  

The Melbourne Rat Race at Waterfront City Docklands, 22/23 November.....are you ready?

Spaces are filling – so be sure to tell your colleagues, friends and family to get their teams in asap.

This is an incredibly vibrant event that opens up Melbourne in a way that will surprise even the savviest of resident.  The Rat Race comes with a fantastic pedigree of success in the UK and Melbourne, the home of sport and events, is ready to turn on a race you will never forget.

Dear London Rat Racers, can I firstly say thank you for all taking part in the event. I have had so much great feedback and I saw so many happy faces over the weekend that it has been an easy decision to decide to plan the race again in 2009. I was really happy with how the event went and the weather was obviously marvellous too.

London Rat Race awaits you – the concluding UK Rat Race event is set to crown an incredible year of experiences and urban adventures. The ultimate venue for the ultimate Rat Race is once again in the shadow of the Tower Bridge,and the route will set forth across the City streets and cycleways, taking you to a very special collection of activity and action venues. And all this the day after a solid few hours of foot navigation in the very centre of the City on Saturday evening. It’s an unparalleled ‘adventure ticket’ to London and we look forward to seeing you this weekend revved and up and ready to go!

The London Rat Race plans to be bolder and more ambitious than last year, with some fascinating cycle routes, where you will discover some truly hidden parts of the Capital. We will be visiting a few favourite venues from last year after popular demand, but almost all the interconnecting course will be new and still expect to use your taste buds to gain precious points again (it won't be seafood though!)

After much enjoyable adventure hunting, we have devised two exciting, challenging and varied Adventure Loops that strike out from our Baltic Square base in the heart of the city. However, before heading out you’ll need to complete the prologue… exclusive to this event, the prologue features a concept never before seen at a Rat Race, and to really sharpen your minds, you’ll need to complete it before the Millennium Bridge tilts at midday otherwise you'll have a fair detour to get across the Tyne, and all this excitement after only starting at 1100, one hour earlier.

The Rat Race is coming to town. Belfast is buzzing and both myself and Stewart Caithness (course director) have been working on the structure of the race for the past few weeks. Its a fascinating and vibrant City that has literally flung open its doors in anticipation of the Rat Pack descending onto its streets for the ultimate urban adventure.

Greetings Edinburgh Rat Fans. Things are hotting up in Auld Reekie and we have under a week to go as we prepare to bring you face to face with the Mother of all Rat Races…it’s the original and some may say the best…so limber up and get your Rat head on. It’s time for the 2008 Edinburgh Rat Race.

The event is close. We can feel the action oozing from the beating heart of Auld Reekie. Will you dare to join us as we prepare to ratify Edinburgh once more…? The first and original Rat Race will once again pack a mighty punch and you are invited to run amok with us across the Capital…

Howydaydooday Rat Fans. We are into the last week of Rat Race planning, crossing the i’s and dotting the t’s. We’ve been measuring up access for the travelling circus that is the Rat Race event village; including the now famous Action Arena, the ever popular Slippery wall and some other titillating and M.A.D. trials that we’ll show you when you get here. You can Register between 2000 on Friday until 2200 and from 0700 Saturday to 0930 and at this time you can collect certain skeleton information and one SI card (dibber) per TEAM, but we retain the exciting and crux Final Routing Data until 1000 Saturday morning. There will be a few marked up maps to help you through this stage, but the important point here is; Register early and clear the decks ready for 1000 rat'o'clock.

Well, it's been along time since you were in the dark wet month of March, but hacking around the bright and liberating Rat Race course set by Shane Ohly on St. Patricks' Day. He truly liberated what turned out to be a great City - full of surprises, stadiums, bridges, greenery, canals and junctions of spaghetti, and many thanks to all those venues for letting the Rats in! There were great responses and welcomes for us all.

As the Bristol Rat Race draws to a close for 2008 it's time to think back on all the action, the pain, and those incredible challenges that give the race it's unique Bristol flavor.
For the Mean Streets this year the event had an Olympic theme (but with a twist, naturally) and a suitably nautical element appropriate to an ancient Port: Torches to chase (but hopefully not extinguish), rhythm gymnastics on the Clifton Downs, cycling (on Choppers), a freestyle swimming relay with optional nudity, "sailing" on upturned sailing dinghies (strung end to end right across the Floating Harbour), hurdles (carrying milk crates) and kayaking (but blindfold, or it would have been to easy).

It's count down time for Bristol, and thanks to Jim "Warped Mind" Godden and Chris "Crazy Horse" Gazeley we have a heap of wild challenges waiting for you.

Hello again Brighton Rat fans, less than four weeks to go now and we are busy here tweaking and preening the challenges and measuring up at our fantastic event village location. More on that later. We think that you will love our approach to the Brighton Rat Race. The city centre has a fantastic regal medina styled adventure in store among other interesting challenges and the beach life is just peachy.

Welcome to the summer and to the Bristol Rat Race 2008! We have a Gert Lush adventure in store for you this 14/ 15 June as we once again prepare to turn Ol’ Brizzle into an urban adventure playground in the name of sport. This year’s event will deliver a powerful punch of action and our planners have been working hard to ensure we liberate the very best of the sights and sounds of the city with permissions for things you just would not normally be allowed to do; prepare to feel like you are involved in a city heist!

Spring has sprung and a smorgasbord of new events has blossomed along with it for us to tell you about! It’s been a busy few weeks here in Rat HQ as we have been working hard to secure these dates for the 2008 calendar. As you can see on our website at www.ratraceadventure.com, it’s now crammed full of urban adventure across the British Isles! Can we possibly fit anymore in? Probably…

Ni Hao Ratfans!

It’s the 7th February – and the Start of the (Chinese) Year of the Rat! Yes that’s right, 2008 is the Year of the Rat and to celebrate, we’re offering a special deal to all those who are entering our NEW events in Brighton and Newcastle and we are EXTENDING our Early Bird deal in Birmingham too!

2008 is here and so too are 2 new Rat Races; we are pleased to announce that alongside the new Birmingham event launched just before Christmas, we are good to go in BRIGHTON and NEWCASTLE with two new Rat Races. We will be running the events in these super cool locations on the new Rat Race Nine 2 Five format, giving participants the opportunity to compete over a Saturday-full of action, adrenalin and adventure.

Dust off your bowler hat and set your watch to the chime of Big Ben. Cor Blimey Guv'nor - it's the London Rat Race!

The summer is fading (what summer!?) but the Rat Race most certainly is not - our hotly anticipated London event is looming on 29th and 30th September 2007 and it promises to be a corker. We really want to tell you where it's headed but we can't - but we are going to give you one hell of a weekend on the streets of London. We'll just whet your whistle below and let you do the guessing...

The Rat Race returned to Edinburgh for the fourth year with the city continuing to offer a difficult and diverse challenge as racers faced checkpoints ranging from the strenuous to the sublime.

29th/ 30th September will see London ratified for the first time. This epic event will provide the culmination to the 2007 Series and will see the Rat Race Adventure Series champions crowned at the event village in the shadow of mighty Tower Bridge.

The London Rat Race will be as grand as the city it is staged in – think famous landmarks, big ropes, audacious navigation stages and some pretty quirky checkpoint locations! With the event village being right next to the new Mayor of London’s office and Tower Bridge in the heart of London, the course could literally go north, south, east or west from here. But in true Rat Race style we won’t be telling you where until hours before you begin.

The man on the maps is World Championship adventure racer and British Champion Nick Gracie, who is ideally qualified to be your host for the weekend, being a born and bred Londoner and therefore knowing the nooks and crannies of this city like the back of his hand. You could say he’s the AR equivalent of a Black Cabbie – on a bike! Roll up Guvnor – because our Manor is now your Manor as we invite you to join the Rat Race in Old Smoke – an unprecedented adventure that will reveal the beating heart of the capital as you have never seen it before.

Click here to see a taster of what the Rat Race London might have in store for you.

Where are we going in 2007? Well, we can announce that we will be back to all locations we have ratified so far - that’s BRISTOL, EDINBURGH and MANCHESTER. Entries open for all of these events on the 23rd October.

1st Place:
Team British Champs – 1242 points
Gaz Parry and Andy Earl

2nd Place:
Team Manchester Climbing Centre – 1194 points
Dave Barrans and Simon Hudson

3rd Place:
Team Peak Bolt Fund – 1108 points
Neil Mawson and Jon Fulwood

And so the Rat Race Urban Adventure Series of 2006 comes to a close in Manchester. Just when racers thought things couldn’t get any more bonkers and bizarre, some cult checkpoints thrown into the race will have people talking for ages about another classic Rat Race. As far as hair brained schemes go, this one was certainly up there!

The dust has just about settled on the Edinburgh Rat Race 2006 where around 500 competitors took on the call of the Rat at the spiritual home of the race. Once again they faced challenges ranging from the epic to the surreal, with some, such as the ropework section in Blackford Quarry, verging on both! Cows, Ninjas, Photo Shoots, Karaoke, Gorillas and Bananas all (somehow) fitted in perfectly with the running, mountain biking, kayaking, climbing and abseiling, along with everything else that went on around the 9+ hours of racing that took place this weekend.

Last weekend saw around 450 racers take part in the Bristol Rat Race where they took on all manner of challenges. These ranged in difficulty from finding a taxi and eating ice lollies to the slightly easier tasks of scaling buildings and epic zip slides into the Avon Gorge, all found around a route of over 80km on bike, foot and kayak! After close to 10 hours of racing the leading teams were still only separated by a little over 6 minutes, while further down the field there was plenty of fighting for position between the 100+ teams taking part.

While the Rat Racers are prepping and sweating it out over the weekend of 17/18th June, there’ll be non-stop fun and entertainments for the rest of us mortals content to enjoy the extreme and action sports from the comfort of the funkiest Event Village to date.

All Rat Racers will be delighted to know that once again Ellis Brigham will be partnering the Rat Race Urban Adventure Series, and bringing an outdoor store to all three Rat Races - ideal for any last minute compulsory kit purchases, and great shopping for anyone on the hunt for brilliant outdoor clobber.
We recommend, however, that you do sort out your kit well in advance of race weekend, since that Saturday will be pretty full-on for even the most organized teams. So to help you sort this out (from the comfort of your own desk), Ellis Brigham have an exclusive early-summer Rat Race offer, where if you spend over £50.00 online or by Mail Order, you get free postage. This saves you the trip into the shops when you could otherwise be training!