What’s it all about?

The River Rat Race has been designed by the guys behind the legendary Rat Race Urban Adventure events, partnering with Stockton Borough Council. It is a 10+km walking or running journey along the banks of the Tees, interspersed with adventure activities based on, near (or in!) the Tees.

It takes place on Sunday 26th August 2012 and starts at 11am. It’s open to everyone. You enter as a solo participant, or gather your mates together and get the team spirit going by entering a team while taking advantage of an even more discounted entry. Teams must be groups of 5 or 10.

Pricing

	Early Bird	Standard	Late Comers
	until 14th February	From 15th February until 30th June	From 1st July
SOLO	£33pp	£39pp	£45pp
Team of 10	£23pp	£29pp	£35pp
Team of 5	£28pp	£34pp	£40pp

Entering as a team

You can enter any of the events as a team of 10 or team of 5. You do not need to know your team members until later in the day. In fact you will have until 14 days prior the event to find them and fill in their details on your account. Please note that Rat Reward do not apply to group entries.

Once you purchase team of 10 or team of 5 you will receive email with instruction on how to fill in details for your team mates.

Benefits of entering as a team:

- You will save £10 per person if you enter as a team of 10 or £5 per person if you enter as a team of 5
- Your whole team will be assigned to the same wave
- You do not need to fill in your team member's details until 14 days prior the event

Event Format

OK so what happens? Well, you enter the event online here and we provide you with some pre-event info by email around 4 weeks before the event. When you pitch up on the day, you register at our Registration Tent at the Riverside Park and then you line up to starts from 11am, with the course taking about 50-150 minutes depending on your chosen pace.

Everyone will complete the same route, along both banks of the River Tees and accessing iconic structures en-route. The route connects Stockton-on-Tees town centre, the Tees Barrage and downstream to the Newport Bridge.

Along this route, which you can run or jog and which is fully way-marked, there are a number of activities to complete. It is a race, but hey, who’s counting – just getting round this course is all that’s needed to make you a River Rat.

The activities range from walking the plank into the river at Captain Cook’s replica ship; HM Bark Endeavour (and jumping off into the river!), short episodes of kayaking and wet dunkings, to scaling the mighty Newport Bridge via an exciting ladder climb. None of these activities require special skill, but all of them are pretty exciting! An overview of the 2011 route can be seen on our illustrated map, here (This is subject to change, as we have moved to a new event centre at Riverside Park, and we’ll update this map as we make progress on all exciting activities). Tthe event base will be at the Riverside Park near Stockton-on-Tees town centre.

There is no time limit to complete the route and when you are finished, you will be able to change into some dry clothes and enjoy some of the event centre activities with your family, and refuel with hot food and drink.

What do I need?

You need a sense of adventure, a head for heights, a love of water and just enough fitness to get around the 10+km course and complete the activities - in some clothes that you don’t mind getting wet and muddy.

You’ll be in and out of the water, so quick-drying sports clothing is recommended and definitely not long trousers or thick tops, which will get heavy when wet. You should also wear footwear that will be suitable for use on and off road and that you don’t mind getting a bit wet and muddy too.

You DON’T need any specialist kit and the event will provide buoyancy aids, kayaks, paddles, helmets and climbing harnesses where required within the route.

You will need to be aged over 16 on the day, and if 16-17 you will need parental or guardian consent signed on the day.

How do I enter?

Go to the online entry page HERE, a few clicks of the mouse and an online form filled in and you’re entered. After that, you will hear from us approximately 4 weeks before the event takes place with emailed pre-event information. This information will also be posted on the event website. Aside from that, get training and prepare to take on the River Rat Race!

Click here for full Event Terms and Conditions (PDF)

What do I get for my money?

Your race entry fees includes some of the following:

- Technical tee shirt
- A 500ml bottle of water at the finish
- An energy bar or confectionary bar at the finish
- Electronic chip timing and race number
- Membership of 2012 Rat Race Rewards: 15% off RRP on all events, kit and training for sale at RatRace.com until November 30th 2012
- VAT

How fit do I need to be?

The River Rat Race is designed for anyone to take part in and will involve 10+km of running and/or jogging and walking to link up our activity locations. If you can sustain a couple of hours of outdoor activity and if you are prepared to get wet, sweat a bit and maybe even scare yourself a little, then this is for you.

You do not need any special skills and you can choose to run or walk as fast or as slow as you like. Some will race and some will hold hands and sing, whoop and holler!