City Chase

Well, it appears that the fear of being nakedly bikeless (or perhaps the lure of deep sea fishing) was such that the messengers only managed to field one team (‘Team 111 - The Immortal Class’ containing myself and that shifty character who’s having a little hiatus [Internet support from the Green Dog]) - and that team did not win nor even make it into the top 10.  However, considering that everyone who came in before us were all serious runners meant that 21st out of a field of almost 300 was a pretty respectable place.  

Bikes were expressly forbidden and even though we had given serious consideration to stashing a couple in town we decided to go the honest way and keep to the rules of nothing but foot and public transport (in hindsight we so could have gotten away with it).  The distances involved were a bit more excessive than I originally thought with checkpoints as far north as the North Sydney oval and east to Bondi Junction.

Some of the checkpoints were easy (win a round of Texas Hold’em which we did on first try with a very well timed straight), some fun (excellent scavenger hunt in Bondi Junction, race from 4 Seasons to MLC centre whilst handcuffed to another team), some were physically brutal (a couple of Boot Camp™ managed points were awful) and some were absolutely stupid (make a balloon dog then sell it for $20 ... for charity).  Only took public transport on three occasions (train from Milsons Pt to Bondi Junction via train (massive delays), and bus from Bondi Junction to the edge of Centennial and then Centennial to Darlinghurst) and the rest was all on foot – some walking but mostly running at a pretty serious pace (and I know I’ll be paying for it on Monday – not only for the pain but also the punishment that Shifty will no doubt inflict on me for forcing him to run for so long).

Particular highlights were each individual jumping in and out of the pool 40 times whilst the partner tread water then a 20 lap circuit around the shallow end holding a 5k weight about your head – the resultant whirlpool almost dragging my stature-deprived partner under – still soaking wet when we had to go to the next checkpoint at the Minus 5 bar in the Quay (solid clothes once we were out).  And, you haven’t lived until you’ve had Shifty do a pole dance in drag for you.

Definitely an event worth entering (although you’d want to be smoking less than this team did) and some excellent ideas which may well appear in future alley cats.
There are photos available via the City Chase website (www.citychase.com) - look out for Team 111 (hard to miss the 80s tennis star headband in any event).