The Rat Race LONDON Urban Adventure Race
Roll Out the Barrel
Marty - Boys in the Buff / 10.10.2007
Basked in the floodlit backdrop of Tower Bridge, the event village was brought to life late on Friday evening with a phenomenal behind the scenes crew who worked through the night. These are the real heroes of the Rat Race - the majority we don't see, but who probably cover more ground over the course of the weekend than most of the racers.
As a damp Saturday morning dawned, our eyes were drawn to the BBC website to see if the forecast had changed - with some disbelief on our part, the MET office seemed to have realised that there hadn't yet been a wet Rat Race, and it would be just downright rude to forecast it for the 10th event … ‘Dry with sunny spells’ for the weekend then.
With three top teams in close contention for the series prize, the scene had been set for an enthralling climax to the season. As it was, we still had the streets of London to navigate on a Saturday night - the real definition of the phrase 'Mean Streets' - and a Sunday course that was promised to be of full Rat Race standard.
Saturday evening started with a fairly mad scramble along the South Bank of the Thames; many teams losing each other in the rush to get away from the village and out to the course; including one of top three teams. With a very congested Queen’s Walk (and some very confused tourists), we opted to head further South and try our hand at a spot of clubbing; after all Saturday night at the Ministry of Sound is a popular venue.
Saturday afternoon isn't normally as busy for them, but with a checkpoint and about 700 people on the course, you certainly got the feeling of what the place is like when it's going off!
SleepMonsters
