City Chase World Championship
High Wires and Sky Dives in Chicago
Nick Gracie (Photos by Chris Halper - AdventureArt.ca) / 25.10.2006
As we landed in Chicago for the 2006 City Chase World Finals the snow was falling and it was below freezing it was the worst weather Chicago had experienced in October for 100 years!! Luckily we were in shorts and flip-flops.The only information we had on arrival was to phone a special number with a recorded message that would direct us to our first nights accommodation. We ended up in the centre of town and met the other teams – the first night was relaxed with a socialable meal and gifts were exchanged from each team’s home city. The only really surprising news was that the race would be a non-stop 30 hour urban adventure taking us through the freezing night.
We started early on Friday morning and the first challenge was to race around the city centre finding 6 locations and receiving 6 items with which were to aid our 30 hour adventure.
We all started with nothing apart from our choice of clothing and shoes. We were not allowed any food, drink, money, phones or credit cards – we were going to have to be resourceful.
We ran for about an hour and a half and picked up 1 headtorch, $30, a 1 day travelcard, a space blanket, a hotel key and some reflective armbands each and we were then directed to a beach on the lake shore and tasked with finding a set of keys in the sand!
This took an hour and was about as much fun as stepping barefoot on drawing pins. The keys opened a lock which was attached to a boey floating in the lake and with a long cold day and night ahead of us we decided not to get any of our kit wet and went for a delightful naked swim in the lake – it’s safe to say my bits have never been smaller.See All Event Posts
