Rat Race Report
26 June
Add Momentum entered 3 teams in the 2007 Bristol Rat Race.
The brave/foolhardy 9 were: Ben Akin-Smith, Claire Akin-Smith, Martin Barratt, George Herbert, Andy Rosser, Celine Deglos, Sophie Masey, Janusz Jesowicz and Tomas Wagner.
Many of you indeed pledged money or donated prior to the event so we felt it only fair to give you a review of the weekend's events now that the challenge has been completed!
It is with some relief that we can tell you that all 9 members of the 3 teams that entered the Rat Race survived the event! The race started with the teams sprinting out through the start gate amid lots of jollity and bravado at 7pm on a recent Saturday night and ended 24 hours later on the Sunday evening with said same teams crossing the finish line in a slightly more reserved and careworn fashion!
The Rat Race is an urban adventure sports event designed to encourage anyone to get involved in an arduous, but varied endurance competition testing everyone's physical limits. We took part in an event based in Bristol and after some pre-race 'entertainment' in the event village (a ragga-style version of Nirvana anyone?) the Prologue kicked off, which gave each team 3 hours between 7pm and 10pm to run around the city heading to various locations, where assorted challenges could be attempted where a team could earn points.
The challenges ranged from abseiling down Clifton Gorge, kayaking around the riverfront, a spot of cross-dressing and dancing the Timewarp, to singing a karaoke version of Bohemian Rhapsody in the middle of the town!
Over these 3 hours, each team probably covered in the region of 15K on foot, and if you know how hilly Bristol is, you'll know it isn't just the distance that hurts. Oh, and that's not to mention dodging the drunks and revellers out on the town (I think they had the right idea actually...)
After a night of little sleep (the event is designed to deprive you of such comforts!), we kicked off again on Sunday morning at 7.30am. Now there is far too much ground to cover here (bit like Sunday really) with over 10 hours of masochistic endeavour packed into the day so to in a business like fashion, here are some bulleted highlights:
60K of cycling - well mud-splattering, bike- carrying, hill climbing, river fording, brake jamming cycling (if that can be imagined at all!) - even Lance Armstrong kept to the roads usually!
* Another 6K or so on foot which meant less running than Saturday evening but a lot more hobbling, hopping and limping around (imagine Kathy Bates in Misery with a sledgehammer to get close to the pain factor)
* Bizarre challenges - table football at the back of a pub with a C&W crooner in the bar behind, human wheel-barrow racing, and kayaking a two man boat with three people in it whilst blindfolded, a kind of kill or cure for non-swimmers
* ...and to get over the finish line wasn't a question of throwing your arms through ticker tape to warm applause but diving over a rotating giant cotton reel suspended five foot off the ground!
Well, all of the competitors from Add Momentum Ltd, (despite aches, pains and muscular trauma) are really glad to have taken part because of the fantastic sum of money we have raised for Hope HIV.
Every penny raised really does make a difference as you can see below:
* £10 can buy a month's meals for an extended orphan family
* £25 can pay for a business training course for an older orphan
* £40 covers training and support for one foster parent or 1 year's supply of clothes for a South African orphan
* £80 pays 1 month's salary for a teacher in Uganda
* £180 will pay for vocational training for an older orphan (e.g. tailoring, mechanics, dressmaking, farming, electrician, hairdressing) and set them up in business
* £600 covers a community parent's salary for a year
* £1200 pays for a children's nurse in a refugee camp in Uganda for a year
This is all thanks to your support and please, if you haven't yet donated but would like to, then please go to www.justgiving.com/AMLRatRace or make a cheque payable to HOPEHIV and send it to us:
Add Momentum Ltd, St Brandon's House, Great George St, Bristol. BS1 5QT