Edinburgh 2004 Report

All race reports written and provided by Sleepmonsters.co.uk. Visit Sleepmonsters for all of this year's Rat Race reports as they happen.

 

Edinburgh 04 Report:

EDINBURGH ROCKS TO THE SOUND OF THE RAT RACE
- THE UK'S FIRST URBAN ADVENTURE RACE

Edinburgh was transformed into the ultimate adventure playground as the UK's first urban adventure race, The Rat Race Volvo Urban Adventure, rocked the Scottish capital

As one of the five events in the British Adventure Racing Championships series the experienced teams were out in force aiming to beat Saab Salomon Orange the current champions and claim top spot on the leader board.
It was not to be, despite a closely fought race the eventual victors were Saab Salomon Orange, with Danish Team, Tschnering, taking second spot, and Team North Face third place.

Team Saab Salomon Orange, under Pete James's stewardship, had unveiled an unfamiliar line-up in the guise of Bruce Duncan (23), from Edinburgh and Fiona Berrow (19), an Edinburgh University psychology student, and one of the youngest competitors in the event. Despite being international orienteers Fiona and Bruce were total newcomers to adventure racing, making their win even more impressive.
Pete James said: "The race was fantastic and hopefully urban racing is here to stay; it would be great to see a similar event take place in other UK cities. Bristol would be an ideal city for an urban adventure race."

Bruce Duncan said: "It is absolutely amazing to have won my first ever adventure race, especially in my home city. Edinburgh provided an absolutely stunning backdrop for the race."
Fiona Berrow admitted: "It was hard work and a real struggle at the beginning but towards the end it was great."

Sir Ranulph Fiennes, who had earlier signalled the start of The Rat Race by abseiling down Nelson's Monument (Calton Hill), took an impressive fifth position with his team, Speeding Fiennes and Fixed Penalties led by John Houlihan, and with Astrid Wheatcroft completing the team. Fiennes commented: "This has been a great race and Edinburgh is a beautiful city for the first ever urban adventure race. Adventure racing is on the increase and I hope there will be more events here in Edinburgh, and in deed, in other cities as well."
The Rat Race is the brainchild of former Red Bull events organiser, Jim Mee, who came up with the idea whilst climbing in Peru. The complex race course was designed by the legendary Gary Tompsett - renowned in adventure racing circles for tough yet imaginative courses.

A field of 330, competitors in 110 teams from UK, Demark, UK, Sweden and Holland lined up for the 100km endurance race, which began with the Mean Streets prologue - an orienteering event around the city on Saturday night with The Rat Race starting the following morning at 0730 from Edinburgh Castle.

In true adventuring racing style the course was kept a secret till race day, and it exceeded all expectations. Highlights included the start from Edinburgh Castle, cycling down the wynds and closes of Edinburgh's Old Town, abseiling down Salisbury Crags, kayaking along the Firth of Forth, searching for control points in the Ocean Terminal shopping centre, the roof top cycle park in Ocean Terminal's multi storey car park; a 30ft climb up a hanging caving ladder at the Adventure Centre in Ratho and a 150m swim in Bonaly Reservoir in the Pentland Hills.
The route was designed to encompass all abilities with a cut-off point part way round the linear route making that possible. The final results show that forty one teams completed the full course, fifty three, the short course including the Ratho climb and nineteen teams taking the short course before Ratho. Only one team withdrew altogether.

Jim Mee said: "Edinburgh has cliffs, hills, sand and sea and we used all of them. The interest has been absolutely amazing. We wanted the race to be challenging to the pro, but attainable to the amateur. The accessible nature of the Edinburgh race made it particularly popular with newcomers to the adventure racing scene. The Rat Race has provided a new, exciting and edgy twist to adventure racing, and now its arrived in the UK, it's here to stay."

"We definitely want to bring The Rat Race back to Edinburgh next year and who knows where else."

A varied field brought together teams from other sports. 'Rat Pie Bake', included top fell runner Janice Mudge and two other Edinburgh athletes whilst 'climbmts.co.uk' led by Stuart Johnston was a group of experienced climbers (unsurprisingly). All female teams included the 'Lumpy Jumpers' and the 'Lycra Lovers' though it was the 'Underground Honeyz' who were the first all female team home. An RAF team, a team of health inspectors, a team of sea scouts and the 'Easterhouse (Lawn) Bowling Club - Senior Ladies A-side' also added to the eclectic field.

Gary Tompsett said: "In designing the course my aim was to show that you can have a real outdoors event within the confines of a city. I designed the course to be hard but also entertaining. The competitors displayed extraordinary navigation and problem solving skills together with athleticism, stamina and a sense of humour to conquer this course."