Rat Race Melbourne
The Wash Up’
Pardon the pun but Melbourne, the sporting capital of Australia, turned on some of the craziest weather that any rat racers have had to endure. Even the Aberdeen Asset Management team from the UK had that look on Saturday that was saying, ‘Are you still going to run it?’ Well run it we did and Melbourne was ratified. Saturday was awesome with our very identifiable rats cris crossing the city from landmarks like Eureka Tower to the mysterious Kung Fu Fighter. The Melway maps got a serious thrashing as the Aussie teams plotted, planned and sweated their way through the checkpoint but to no avail as Bruce, Nick and Iiona showed the skills honed throughout the UK series to come up with a top class point score.
The MFR team from Melbourne arrived Sunday morning ready to make up the time and salvage some line honours pride even though they were an all male outfit. The field was buzzing early on a mix of adrenaline, fun and fear. A flying start led by Melbourne’s chief rat saw harbour town swarmed by the rat pack before hitting the bikes for some serious riding. Tracks, trails, roads, stairs and some massive storm water drains made a fantastic course that unlocked some fabulous secrets of our great city. You would think that the highest abseil in Rat Race history would be the most daunting challenge but it was surpassed by those that chose to eat raw or semi cooked sausages at the great Aussie BBQ challenge. As the checkpoints got ticked off, the race between Aberdeen Asset Management and the lads from team MFR was on in earnest, until a slight detour (read navigation error) cost the Australian lads and as they say in the classics, the fat lady rat was frocked up and started to sing. The experience and strategy of the UK champs shone through in a clinical display but the word in the village is that now the Rat Race has arrived, home teams have started planning for next year already.
Special mention to the SA Ambulance team who drove eight hours to compete, were the only team to need our first aid assistance after a cracking fall on the steepest track, finished and jumped back in the car for 8 hour return trip before work the next day. And also to team DILF, the all male outfit who had such a great time even though it was a struggle to explain what the name meant.
So Melbourne 2008 is officially ratified and done well. We have started the planning for the series next year with new cities on the radar, but block out November 2009 in Melbourne because we will be back bigger and better than ever.
Chief rat over and out
To have a look at the 2008 Melbourne Rat Race - go to - http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=tk8L5iTanUs