Volvo City Chase
Stinging Arrows Take out Volvo City Chase Sydney
Ben Rattray / 30.03.2006
The Citychase requires teams of 2 to work out the location of checkpoints around the city from cryptic clues. Teams must then visit a number of the checkpoints on foot or public transport. Once at the checkpoints, challenges must be successfully completed before they are ticked off. Challenges vary from tasks including answering questions, eating disgusting food (like dog food), performing physical challenges and completing puzzles. The start just happened. We really didn’t know what was happening but hoped it would become clearer when we found a person on the other side of the Star City building with a clue sheet. It didn’t. There was panic and running in a direction that we didn’t know was right. Andy and I differed in our approach. Andy wanted a plan. I wanted to run to a checkpoint and work it out then. In the end it was a compromise and we ran to the Fitness First checkpoint. On the run was our first phone call to my brother, at home on Google to work out a couple of the clues. The challenge at Fitness First was not surprisingly physical and only one had to do it. So Andy, knowing Sydney much better than me, proceeded to look over the clues and a map whilst I flogged myself on a bike. Circular Quay next, my French friend didn’t answer his mobile so I was forced to read the French clue myself. It was fairly self explanatory so we ran straight there. Up to the Bridge climb office, confirming the direction with locals on the way we met a Citychase volunteer nearby. She informed us the next checkpoint was in the SE tower so we made a dash there. Up lots of stairs, we then struggled to read through a brochure to answer the checkpoint question. More stairs and checkpoint conquered. A hard run across the bridge followed and down into Luna Park.
Luna Park was a task of finding Citychase logos, collecting the letters at each one and then unscrambling the letters to make a phrase. We spotted the first two signs easily but it took Andy a while to get a ball scoring a 6 from the clown’s mouth. We took another opportunity to check with our Google source of train times and some finer points. A Luna Park attendant hinted the direction of the next logo and before I knew it I was getting carpet burn down a slide. Unscrambling the letters took a little while before we realised it was \"Just for Fun\". We got to Milson’s Point train station only 3 minutes after a train heading south left. 12 minutes to the next. Frustrated, we looked back over the clues and changed plans. The more I think about it now, I think it would have been quicker to go to the alternate double pointer. But it doesn’t matter now. We headed north on the train instead to Waverton, for the lawn bowls. A quick dash down the hill(Andy knows his way well) and we were in full stride bowling. I decided to remove my shorts first, as for every 2nd bowl not in the circle you had to lose an item of clothing. A little later, and a little more naked, we had the checkpoints and took off. Our Google man informed us the train was leaving Waverton at that point. A very, very hard run, but we missed the train, not sure by how much, maybe 2 minutes. So we sat for about 13 minutes waiting for the next train, but it seemed like an eternity. Off at Central station we did a lap before giving up on finding the checkpoint at that location. We couldn’t understand where it would be from the clue other than where we had looked. We were worried, but I convinced Andy that we would come back to it later since it was on our path.
Up to Crown St, I was pretty sure we were to the south, having confirmed where the Volvo dealership was over the phone and using a map. Quick confirmation with locals and we ran up to the checkpoint pretty quickly. We were frustrated at being marked a couple of answers wrong when the dealer told us the answers but it didn’t cost us any real time as we guessed a couple of others instead and met the requirements of the checkpoint. Running off with another team we entertained some light chit-chat to get the exact location of the central station checkpoint. We sprinted there and after rolling a 6 on the die, I figured I would get to eat something nice. Andy got the chocolate, I got the raw egg. At least it wasn’t Pal dogfood. Off to China town and straight up into the Karaoke room. I picked the first song I saw on a sheet whilst Andy was thinking more about the length of the song. We got my song, although it wasn’t what I thought it was. It was awful - I really thought Andy and I sang better - I\'m sure we did in China together (during an orienteering holiday), although my memory of that specific occasion is hazy. Down to Harbourside to the last checkpoint. There was a bit of panic when I realised how long it would take. Phone calls started and we slowly made our way around Darling Harbour. A few tourists were harassed and locals questioned on trivia. Most were very nice about it. In the end we managed it fairly calmly - sort of, but quick enough. OK run to the finish. \"Andy, lets go. ANDY LETS GO\". Too busy talking to Gary Fairbrother(in the eventual 2nd team swapping clues). I had to drag him to the finish where in the end we won with a comfortable margin in under 2.5hrs. But we could never tell. Andy got excited the whole way about winning, but I was paranoid something would come up or that other teams would have a better route we didn’t see. I tried to keep him focused and in the end we did a fairly good job, though no where near perfect. And if you were at the prize-giving - Andy did have a partner - I was just stuck on a broken down train. Lucky it was after the race!
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