NSW Stingers take out City Chase World Championships in USA

Wednesday, 25 October 2006

The City Chase Urban Adventure Racing World Championships were held in Chicago, USA on the 13-14th October. Ben Rattray and Andrew Hill qualified by winning the Sydney race back in March.

 

Team Australia, with the aid of Brooks running attire, arrived in Chicago two days prior to the race to unexpected snow falls but adapted to win the World Championship race.

 

The race was an exceptional experience for all teams involved where teams were required to get around a course running or using public transport around the sights of Chicago with the team to go around the course the fastest being crowned the winner. Competitors were expecting two races approximately 4-5 hours over two days but race organisers dropped a bombshell announcing the race would start early Friday morning and not finish till Saturday night. The course was not known to competitors until they arrived at each checkpoint which unknown to competitors at the time included skydiving from 14,000 feet, trapeze acts, night golf and landscaping for charity.

 

The race started at Buckingham Fountain with a scavenger hunt around the famous sites of Chicago to collect various items such as train passes and money which is needed during the course. Team Australia headed out with Teams Edmonton and Vancouver and finished the first section in the lead group.

 

Teams then had to get to North Ave Beach where they had to uncover one of twelve keys buried in the sand and then unlock a padlock within Lake Michigan, Ben went for the swim in near freezing conditions.

 

The next chasepoint teams were required to get to Hubbard Woods Park. Unsure of where to go the teams of Australia, Edmonton and Vancouver eventually headed back into town and after receiving information from the public and got directions to Hubbard Park in the west of Chicago by metro train. This turned out to be very wrong which was located in the dodgy black ghettos in the outskirts of town and suddenly surrounded by groups of people and hotted up Lincolns pulling up beside us. After realising that we got this wrong we headed back into town and finally found the right information and caught the train north to Hubbard Woods Park. The challenge was for one team member to perform a trapeze act. Andrew did this task where he was required to swing high above the ground, turn upside down while swinging, put his arms out in a matter of seconds and be caught by a professional trapeze performer. Luckily this was completed at first attempt.

 

A long 25km bike ride back into town was then required followed by catching a train south to Harvey where all teams were required to help landscape a new garden for a ‘Habitat for Humanity’ charity. After this task was completed teams headed back into town yet again and by this time night had fallen. Teams then ran out to west of Chicago and sat an SAT exam with the team receiving the lowest score being eliminated from the race.

 

Now it was over 10 hours into the race and we had only eaten very minimal food. Luckily for us the next chasepoint at The Crown Fountain was eating the whole pizza we had previously made during the first task earlier in the day. Following this teams were required to take a walking tour of architectural downtown Chicago and take notes for a short test.

 

The next chasepoint was a challenge within the ESPN centre, a games arcade. Teams were required to pitch a 55 miles per hour baseball, score 50 points in basketball, score 60 points in gridiron and finish in the top twenty in Daytona car racing game. Once this was finished teams ran to Lucky Strike tenpin bowling and score a total of 800 points. Australia finished this in first position and waited for Edmonton and together caught the train north before being allowed 2 hours rest.

 

At 4am Australia and Edmonton teed off in the dark and freezing cold winds. We played four holes with glow in the dark balls and scored 6 over par incurring a 6 minute penalty.

 

Next stop was to catch a train west for a 22km canoe as the sun was rising followed by run around Brookfield Zoo to collect moulds of animals.

 

After the zoo time was stopped, teams were put into cars and driven to an undisclosed location. Our hearts were in out throats as they drove us to Chicagoland Skydiving Centre. Andrew was first to jump out of the plane 14,000 feet above the ground. This included a 9,000 feet (over 3km) freefall in 60 seconds. Finally, as teams landed back on land we were driven back into the centre of Chicago.

 

The final chasepoint consisted of using a camera phone which was supplied to us to capture 12 photos of tasks around the city centre then a final dash for the finish line after 33 ½ hours of racing. Since spending over 33 hours together Australia and Edmonton finished across the line together with Edmonton winning a Volvo car each and Australia receiving official world champion status and a free trip to any City Chase race in the world next season.

 

Thanks to Brooks, Ross Wall and Kerrin Rattray for their support during, and before the race.

 

Look out for next years calendar which promises Australian races in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.

Further details: www.citychase.com
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