Event History

Background
The Rat Race is the creation of Jim Mee, ex Red Bull events specialist and now Director of Detail Events and the Rat Race Urban Adventure Series, alongside other adventure oriented events. It's fair to say that Jim has had a busy career in the events world, starting at Red Bull where he was responsible for creating some of their most famous extreme sporting events.

During his time at Red Bull, Jim got to know Gary Tompsett and they worked closely on adventure race projects starting with the 2001 Adrenalin Rush for which Gary was designing the course. The pair then teamed up to produce the Red Bull Northern Exposure in 2002, the first ever adventure race staged in winter. From these roots, the events keep coming!

Birth of the Rat
Mountaineering in Peru, Jim's idea of making an adventure race as accessible for the amateur as it is challenging for the pro, the Rat Race Urban Adventure was born in 2004, where adventure sports were taken from the mountains and wilderness to where most people are: the city centres. The City of Edinburgh hosted the first ever Rat Race Urban Adventure the ideal venue, virtually purpose built as an urban adventure playground. With the enthusiastic support of the City Council the Detail crew set about reconnoitering all the fantastic natural and man made assets of Edinburgh and the first of many Rat Races was born.

 

 

 

On July 17th 2004 115 teams lined up on the grid and raced through a two stage race over, under, round and through the streets and environs of Edinburgh. 100km and a few blisters later, Team Saab Salomon Orange crossed the line in Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens to take the trophy, leading home the most diverse field of athletes ever seen in adventure racing. From all out rookies to the best in the business, this is what the Rat Race is all about: participation and fun.

Rat Series
2005 saw the Rat multiply ... Like Edinburgh, Bristol City has always been a mecca of great terrains, waterways, parkland and secret settings, and again, with an enthusiastic council, Bristol proved to be the ideal South Western venue for the first of the Rat Race Urban Adventure Series 2005. In July 05, the Edinburgh Rat Race returned with greater gusto, incorporating new amazing experiences such as abseiling from Murrayfield rugby stadium, kayaking under the Forth Rail Bridge, and the infamous space hoppers at the Gyle Shopping Centre. Manchester City Council also wanted some urban action, so the Rat Race was incorporated into Manchester Urban X a festival of action sports, which also involved the inaugural Bruntwood Aerial Assault where the UK's top climbers took on the challenge of scaling 12 Manchester buildings and structures.

In 2006 the Rat population continued to grow and invaded the cities of Bristol, Edinburgh and Manchester once again. All three cities were once again up for the challenge of providing an epic race and that was matched by the enthusiasm and commitment of the racers and organisers alike. The Rats faced all manner of bizarre challenges involving hairdressers, ninjas, gorillas and cows, zip slides across the Avon Gorge and Manchester's Picadilly Gardens, aerial activities in,on or through stadiums, gap sites and viaducts, all wrapped up by navigation on foot, bike and kayak. The Aerial Assault also returned to challenge the top climbers with a variety of urban climbs on Manchester's array of interesting buildings.

In 2007 the Rat Race introduced London to the fold. This behemoth became the largest adventure race of all time when just shy of 800 adventurers took to the streets of the Capital from our hub in the shadow of mighty Tower Bridge. The course was daring, the venues spectacular and the jellied eels were eagerly lapped up too. This inaugural event was a huge success and we fully intend to keep coming back for more! Behold the transition of major urban uber-metropolis into city playground of fun and games.

For 2008 we are back with all the action packed adventure of the 2007 events – Bristol, Edinburgh and London. But the Rats will multiply once more and bursting onto the scene with a new 1 day format come Newcastle, Birmingham and Brighton. 2008 will also see our expansion into international adventures…watch this space…we’ll tell you where and when very very soon.