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Suburban Raiders

Rob Howard / 10.08.2006

After battling their way through the crowded Saturday night streets of central Manchester during the Prologue, teams arriving early on Sunday morning found the pavements clear of all but a few all-night party-goers, and the roads almost traffic free.

With a 7.30am start they had to be up early and wide-awake, especially as their first task was a quick burst of street orienteering, on a specially prepared map with all the street names taken off! This had 3 checkpoints and was primarily intended to split the teams up a little before they jumped on their bikes, which they’d use to ride a 65km course through the sprawling suburbs of the city.

Once underway they were directed to CP104, which turned out to be a dummy control. There was just a small sign saying, congratulations on finding the CP, a ruse that was meant to be the same for everyone, but was even more frustrating for the Buff Ladies. They’d missed it and gone ahead towards CP105, then realised their mistake and gone back to get 104 … only to find the message and no Sportident box!

City Slickers

In a great footballing city it was no surprise the first major stopping point for rope activities was the Manchester City stadium, built as part of the Sport City complex during the Commonwealth Games. Two huge spiral gangways, either side of the entrance were used to set up a Tyrolean, which passed the impressive glass frontage of the building, and an abseil off one of the ramps. Two of the team set off for the abseil and the third joined the queue for the Tyrolean.

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