Spent an awesome weekend with the Hatfields learning to water ski and wake board.

http://www.ratraceadventure.com/

The Team

Mark Kelly, Sam Smith and myself

The Evendence

• See the pictures
• See the videos

The Race

After the adventure we had in London hopes were high for team O Face’s second Rat Race. This time we were taking on the streets of Birmingham in a new 9-5 one day race format.

The day didn’t start well; both Sam and I were feeling pretty rough. We set off early, fuelling up on peanut butter and banana sandwiches on the way to the NEC. There we met Mark and sorted out our kit before heading to the halls.

The event was being run from hall 3, one of the halls being used to host the Outdoor Show. The start and transition were located within the Rat Race exhibition space. After signing in and collecting maps and the obligatory Rat Race t-shirt we were briefed by the race organisers. As usual we’d not left enough time and Sam was reading instructions as I marked our route on a map and Mark listen in. Minutes later we were called to the start.

The first challenge was located in a plantation just outside the hall. The brief was that there had been a plane crash and we were to search for survivors, orange flags, within a 60m wreckage corridor. As we set off into the woods a camera man ran alongside me; it was still early and I’d not woken up so all I could think to say was “don’t look at me I’ve not got a clue!”. We found our bearings in the form of the Premier Inn hotel marked on the map and soon started to find flags. Each flag was marked with two letter that were to form part of a code. We had to laugh when a couple of guys, taking it all far too seriously, ran past a flag calling out the letters in a phonetic “Mike Victor”. The plantation consisted of woods, wetland and saplings, which made running difficult.  After finding all but one of the flags we opted to take the time penalty instead of continued searching.

Returning to the hall transition we collected our bikes and hit the road. Going the wrong way out of the gate we should have taken this as I sign of things to come! The map we had was very large scale and with minimal close up detail, plus in my hands it was like a price of plain white paper mapping out the arctic. Missing our first checkpoint we doubled back, to the amusement of dog walkers, but couldn’t find the dibber.

Riding through Chelmsley Wood we (I) missed an “indistinct left turn” in the river and we ended up in a field near the M6 totally bemused. Back tracking we found the trail and another team that had missed the turning. By this time it felt like we were dead last. After level pegging with this team for a while our brains engaged; we took 5 minutes to mark checkpoints on the map. Now we were knew where to expect checkpoints without having to stop. We soon caught up with other teams.

By Spaghetti junction it we’d caught up with several teams. Here a marshal presented us with a strand of spaghetti. This was to be transported, without breakage, to Brindley Place, some 5k away. I placed it inside my seat post and wedged it in place with a tissue.

Riding the Grand Union canal into the center of town was one of the highlights for me. The locks, bridges and buildings along the canal made for an interesting ride into the city. Arriving at the NIA we saw other racers kayaking from the Sea Life Center. Making our way to there we were directed to Brindley Place car park. The spaghetti made it intact, although the marshal hardly cared for our achievement! After leaving our bikes in the car park we headed for the waterside.

The kayak course consisted of a long and short course. We opted for the short to try and make up time. I raced off in a single kayak. Not sure where the turning was I asked another competitor, they instructed me to keep going. A couple of minutes later I heard Mark shout and turned to see them turning well behind where I was. The other racer had misled me, the git! I turned and raced back. Luckily I followed another team and saw where the dibber was on the bank. Racing back to the Sea Life Center I overtook a couple of teams. Expecting to round the corner to Sam and Mark laughing at me for racing off they were nowhere to be seen. 5 minutes… 10 minutes… I began to get concerned. Eventually the boys came into site. Apparently they’d missed the dibber and went round the course again.

Leaving the kayaks behind we plotted checkpoints on the inner city orienteering map. This allowed us to plan a route. Running around town we took on several challenges:

Brindley Place

Mark and I scaled a climbing wall.

The Mailbox

Inside I pushed Sam, stood on a mountain board, round a course. Sam took a bit of a tumble after performing an awesome skid stop. Unfortunately he hurt his back.

Outside I crossed the canal on the underside of a bridge. Not difficult but perhaps sending the tallest team member into the smallest space wasn’t the best idea!

Radisson Hotel

Arriving in the basement we were directed to race up 18 floors of stops to the top. This didn’t help Sam’s back and he did well getting up there.

We didn’t go for the outer checkpoints; from London we learnt that its better to save time for later challenges. After collecting the bikes we headed back to the towpaths and the grand union canal. We rode south before turning off for Birmingham City FC’s ground, St Andrews. Here we queued up for the abseiling challenge. Not quite as grand as Twickenham we found ourselves descending a stairwell in one of the stands.

Leaving the ground we headed back to the canal. Here my map reading skills failed again and we lost time getting our bearings. I passed the Map to Mark for the final part of the race. A good job that I did as navigating the tow paths is harder than you’d think. After a few miles, and a stop to help fellow races with a puncture, we arrived at The Ackers adventure and ski center. There we took on a Jungle assault course – a few logs and pieces of wire strung up just above the ground to create a challenge for middle management types on corporate days out. We didn’t even get to do the whole thing the rain had made it too slippery.

By now we were all wet, muddy and tiring but eager to take on the much hailed final challenge at Land Rover. Ackers to Land Rover was another jaunt on the Grand Union then a turn off onto roads. We arrived to be told the challenge had just closed. We begged and got let in. The challenge was to navigate course they use for the Land Rover experience. Apparently lots of mud and deep water in a car is an experience for some people – they should try it on foot! After slipping on the first hill Sam and Mark carried on, mistaking another racer for me. I was left stumbling around the course in what began to feel like another Tough Guy event.

Challenges complete we headed back to the NEC. Leaving the bikes we were directed inside the Rat Race exhibit for the final tasks. First we had to find the Fat Face stand then Mark climbed a ladder to the ceiling of the hall. The final challenge was to climb a slope covered in bananas to reach the finish line. To do this I lay on the slope as Mark and Sam climbed over me. After a couple of stumble and falls we got to the top and finished the race in 8 house and 50 minutes.

I enjoyed the race but compared to London it was lacking. I partly put this down to Birmingham being typically wet and dull but mainly to the amount of visible litter and number of drunks and gangs hanging around on the tow paths. At points it was intimidating.

Where will team O Face race next?!

The Team:

• Mark ‘Arctic Iron Man’ Kelly
• Sam ‘More metal than bones’ Smith
• Rob ‘Marathon rower’ Ford

Event Details:

Its a one day event, 9-5, format this time so not sure what to expect. If its anything like the London Rat Race we could be doing anything.

Rat Racer’s abseiling from Twickenham Stadium – Yes I did this!

http://www.ratraceadventure.com/page86.asp

We’ve all agreed that we’re not going to be jumping in the canal. The Thames was bad enough but a Canal in Birmingham will just lead to illness!

I missed last season’s snow so I took it easy for the first few runs. I soon found my rhythm and started having a bit of fun. Mark and Sam tried to teach me to ollie but I didn’t get any great ‘air’; I swear my board’s not as flexible as theirs

I spent most of my time practicing jumps and manuals, just building confidence. I’d been discussing the physics of 180’s, as lifetime’s ambition, with Mark but couldn’t build up the courage to have a go. Well this was until the last couple of runs at least, by then Mark had talked me into having a go. I fell over a few times, I did a few 120’s but finally I managed a 180!

Great night out and I much preferred Milton Keynes to Tamworth.

Just have to add on that the snow dome website is horrible and the booking system doesn’t inspire confidence.

It was a damp and cold day which began with a briefing. Our instructor liked to remind us how long he’d been in racing and tried putting the fear into us to stop us messing about. I gave up listening when he said Button’s better then Hamilton! Next we went to the track and were assigned our car. We set off following a pace car to learn the track. After a 20 minute sting we were let free for the free lapping.

I thought I was king of the circuit, as you do, until I span on the third lap. Into the pits to be told what I knew I’d done wrong – too much accelerator Took it easy then as I saw others spinning too. Gradually I built up the pace and was loving it. Trying not to lock the wheels as I braked later and later for corners. I got hairy sometimes as my knee stopped me getting third occasionally.

After 10 or so laps I was catching and overtaking people and felt great. Then a red flag. Someone had parked it on the grass. A few minutes later we were off again. I couldn’t get back to how I felt before and was bunched up behind others. Its pretty hair raising braking late 10ft from the car in front.

Later found out it was one of our group that had gone for the picnic on the grass. We all thoroughly enjoyed it. I’d like to do it in the dry to see what the corners are like at speed but the damp made for great drifting.

I think I will do an Iron man, but possibly in a year when I’ve not got so much on.

Saturday night: Mean Streets

3 hours and as many checkpoints as possible.

We were a bit lax with our timing and arrived late at registration. Just about had time to drop stuff off at hotel and get to race start. Sam had prepped the map with checkpoint locations and we quickly worked out a route.

Our plan was to go north of the river and pick off checkpoints in an anti clockwise direction taking. The event had an imposed time limit of three hours so we marked some checkpoints as time checks, from there we could go for more or less depending on the time.

Not being a Londoner myself left me a little daunted, especially as I always end up getting lost when I’m walking the golden pavements. Luckily Mark and Sam are veterans of the capital and I felt confident as we set off.

Checkpoints were marked with dibbers; devices that we put the chip on our wrist into until it beeped. Nice and simple but many were unmanned and hard to find. I ran to an early point and asked the marshal where it was and she told me to start looking, felt like an Easter egg hunt but without the chocolate!

Some of the manned points were set up for challenges. The first involved me donning a sumo suit, running up some steps and being rolled back by my team mates. The next was a sudoku challenge, what? Mark and I were clueless but luckily Sam had done one before. The first Ellis Bingham saw Mark climb and ice wall at the back of the shop. Stanfords’ map shop presented us with a map reading challenge. On the return leg mark and I did a parcour challenge on the embankment. Not as tough as I’d have hoped but I suppose it can’t be too dangerous for health and safety.

The event took in many sights including, Scotland Yard, various markets, Covent garden, a hen do, the barbican, British Museum to name but a few. What with many places being opened up for the race we thought nothing of one clue that suggested we head for Buckingham palace gardens. We ran the whole way round the perimeter before asking a policeman if there was a way in. We later found out that there were three dummy points listed on a card, but as we missed the briefing it was lucky we didn’t waste more time.

My favorite challenge by far came as a bonus. We were near the end of the event; tired and up against the clock we had to choose between running to the ministry of sound or getting a checkpoint near the finish. We opted to give it some an go for the Ministry, good effort by Sam who was in pain. I’d always wanted to visit the Ministry and when we got there I wasn’t let down. With classic tunes playing we ran round an empty club collecting flyers. Mark found time to break-dance and I took to the stage. So much fun and sooo funny.

We made it back to the finish two minutes before time, or so we thought. As we’d missed the briefing we’d also missed the fact that the duration was 2 1/2 hours not three. We got deducted a few points but we weren’t that upset.

Sunday: The main event

Unfortunately Sam had taken the maps home on the Saturday night whilst Mark and I had the instructions. So we started with a little lack of planning.

Setting off from Tower Bridge at 7.30 we headed into the streets for another orienteering exercise. Mark had some issues with a sore leg and found it hard to run so we took it easy between checkpoints. Taking it easy gave meant we could spend more time navigating and thus not loose too much time.

Task 1 done and we hit the road on the bikes. First challenge was to ride down some steps. Sam walked down; Mark and I circled a few times, did two steps and then walked. Totally chickened out but they were steep and I didn’t want to risk injury early in the day; well that’s my excuse not sure about Mark as he had full suspension! Next stop – Fuller’s Brewery where we had to roll a barrel down a course then do a krypton factor like jigsaw. I always thought I’d be good at these but my mind went blank. We were left with two pieces and just couldn’t figure it out!

Leaving the brewery we headed for Richmond park. Sam’s ham string started hurting him so we went at a steady pace. We arrived at the park to be presented with and orienteering challenge. 8 points needed to be visited, on foot, covering about 10k. Mark and Sam both were in pain at this time so we did well to make it round all the points. Highlights included seeing wild deer and a vantage point where you could see all the way St Paul’s.

From the park we headed to Twickenham, taking in some stunning views of the Thames along the way. Arriving at the Stadium my stomach turned as I was ropes with people dangling from over the side. After a short queue it was my turn :-S I clambered over the edge, didn’t look down and with some reluctance let go of the rail and clung to the rope. 20 feet from the bottom my gloves had melted through and my hands with them! I can’t say it was enjoyable but I can say I did it! After that we headed into the Stadium itself where we ran we had to do a rugby exercise next to the pitch. It was pretty special being in there all on our own.

Leaving the stadium we headed for the river and the Young Thames Mariner’s Centre. There we were faced with a rope slide, and swim challenge. Believe me by this time the last thing I wanted to do was jump into the Thames. With some reluctance and much swearing, by myself, we all jumped in and completed the challenge.

Time was now against us so we opted to miss the Wimbledon Common orienteering challenge. We, and other teams, didn’t really fancy another bout of running. So off we set to the Thames kayaking challenge located in Putney. We had to do and up/down stream loop of about 1k in fairly rough conditions. I took a single and Mark and Sam took a double. Feeling good I went off hard and overtook plenty of people. On the way back to the bikes we were directed to do a rowing challenge, 1500m on the ergo. No problem I thought but after 9 hours of racing and 500 metres later my legs died. The guys did 500 each and we completed it with no problem. The pubs and clubs training I gave them paid off here!

By the time we’d finished the river had risen, flooding the road. Our exit cut off we followed other racers and dashed for the finish. Time was against us and we were all feeling the aches. We made it back bang on 6, the official end time, but not in time to do the HMS Belfast challenge. I was a little gutted about this but was happier to have finished as a team.

In summary I thought the event and the weekend was amazing fun. I can’t wait to do another. I’d like to race against another team too. The main thing that let us down on the second day was lack of planning but after a while you forgot about racing and just had fun participating.

See the photos

• Mark Kelly
• Sam Smith
• Myself

Training done so far:

• Some climbing

I have no idea what to expect from this event. I think it should be a laugh but as the race days gets closes I’m starting to thing it may be tougher than we anticipated.

I’m disappointed with the lack of communication from the organisers as I’m yet to get any race day details.