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Rat Race - Manchester

Rob Howard / 25.01.2005

More details have been coming out of the inspired Rat Race HQ on their plans for invading Manchester city centre.

On August 6th they’ll be creating an urban sports festival for Manchester, the like of which no one has seen before. This new adventure sports beginning will have 2 core events; an adventure race and a climbing based technical event with a new \"U\" graded system for urban climbing.

The adventure race will be for all comers with 3 classes; youth, rookie and adventure. (No \"elite\" category here.) The race will be split into two segments, each lasting approximately 3 hours. The first will be for the adventure class only. They\'ll be foraging out of the city centre into the wider environs of Greater Manchester, with disciplines such as mountain biking, rope work and some wetter activities!

The second segment will feature all racers, and will be very much a \"navigation on foot\" event, around the city centre of Manchester. This is where AR meets street sport, and the eclectic mixture of disciplines will see teams trying their hand at everything from free-running and clambering obstacles to skateboarding. Maybe ...

The \"Aerial Assault\" climbing event is targeted at the climbing community and will feature a number of \"routes\" set on buildings and structures within Manchester City Centre. It will be aimed at the country\'s best climbers and there will be a strict skill level set for participants to enter.

And in a classically surreal Rat Race twist the event will be sharing the weekend with a huge music festival. Although an entirely different event, the race may well be \"rubbing shoulders\" with this huge urban music spectacular. Who knows, maybe crowd surfing will be introduced as a new discipline!