You could sit on a tour bus to take in the sights of Edinburgh, or you could take part in a three-hour run up and down the city’s streets: REPORTS FROM: Sarah Warwick
It may be the first time I’ve ever cursed a British heatwave. It’s blazing sunshine and about 24°C at 7pm in the evening on a Saturday in Edinburgh. Considering every other time I’ve been up here it’s rained, it’s deeply ironic that I’m standing amid hundreds of people on West Princes Street Gardens in the centre of the city, waiting to take part in one of the biggest physical challenges of my life.
Now in its third year, the Rat Race bills itself as a kind of revolution in multi-sport adventure racing. Entrants reclaim the urban environment as ‘playground’, taking in the sights of the big city while participating in a multi-discipline race. Taking place across three cities (Edinburgh, Manchester and Bristol) every summer, the event consists of two races, run over a weekend. The first part – the ‘novice’ Rat Race (and the one I shall be risking life and limb in) – on the Saturday night involves a three-hour, approximately 10-mile, race on foot around the roads, rivers and parks of the city, finding as many checkpoints as possible in the time allowed.
The advanced section, taking a minimum of seven hours” on the Sunday, is where the real adventure racing begins. Mixed teams of three must run, mountain bike, kayak, abseil and climb round an 80km route. All this in 30°C heat? A “piece of cake”, apparently, according to one keen Rat I spoke to. “This is the third time I’ve done it,” the athletic thirtysomething confided to me, as we filled our much-needed water bottles together side by side. “I find that once I get into my stride it’s easy, and it’s great fun.”
Still dubious, I head to my team HQ to help work out our route. Before the start of each part of the race the teams are given some clues as to where checkpoints are so they can puzzle out their own route. This is typical of adventure racing, a relatively new sport that combines edgy sports and daredevil risk taking with navigation skills and orienteering Having once been a girl guide, I seized on this chance to make up to my team for my lack of fitness with a bit of map-reading, thus giving myself the nickname of ‘Nerd’ for the rest of the weekend.
Route planned and every possible muscle stretched enthusiastically, we were given a brief introduction by the man behind the Rat Race concept, extreme sports fanatic Jim Mee. Predictably buff, Mee is one of those people who cannot sit still for a second. He came up with the idea for the Rat Race when mountain biking through a rainstorm in Peru during a year-long world climbing tour. He slots in time planning this and other races around his taxing skiing, snowboarding, cycling, climbing and paragliding schedule.
Like Jim, many of my fellow competitors seem super fit, but I was surprised to see quite a few who looked fairly normal. The Rat Race attracts a wide variety of people who are just eager for a new challenge. As word of the event has spread, this increasingly includes racers from all over the world. Team names like ‘Two Kiwis and a Haggis’ and ‘The Tartan Koalas’ give away the entrants’ multinational origins. Some use the race as a form of sightseeing – abseiling down the walls of Scottish castles or kayaking down rivers certainly makes a change from open-topped tour buses.
As the organisers shout go and we stream out of the gardens it’s clear that the race’s name is apt. As from the proverbial sinking ship we depart the park at a pace, scrambling over one another to collect score sheets, squeaking out instructions to teammates. The locations of checkpoints, where we must scan our electronic wrist tags, also seem to have been chosen with rats in mind – this is clear as we quickly find ourselves skirting some of the less salubrious parts of the city.
Despite this, and the fact that I had forgotten to factor in the pain of wheezing and sweating up and down Edinburgh’s seven large hills, I really enjoyed the run. At certain checkpoints, the organisers have thrown in a selection of games and challenges, which break up the run and keep you thinking. Three hours pass in a flash and before I know it, I’m charging down towards the finish line, tired legs forgotten in the lust for a win.
Which I don’t get, obviously. Our team comes 69th out of about 170 teams. We are able to persuade ourselves this isn’t too bad, considering. After all, we’re British … we can just blame the weather.
