Three Rat Ladies

First off appologies for the huge delay in this report. Most of it was written while it was fresh in my head but due to some madness in work, I'm only getting to finishing it now

The first Belfast Rat Race was held on Saturday the 9th August and we welcomed Paddy to our team to make up the three. We had been really looking forward to this race since we heard it was going to happen as we can never manage to get across the water for any of the other rat races. We also decided to do it as a fundraiser for Harberton Special School where Chris works as a teacher and the early total looks to be around £1500. A huge thanks to everyone who sponsored us.

Anyway, onto race day and as promised by the weather man I woke up at 6AM to the sound of rain beating off my window. This was plenty of time to clear up for the 11am start but I was cycling there and had to leave at 6:45. My day started well as I had packed my stuff the day before for the first time ever and so had no issues looking for kit before leaving the house. Unfortunately it was raining fairly heavily the whole way to Belfast City Hall so although I was wearing dry gear, my feet and cycling shoes were wet which would turn out to have a huge impact on our day.

We where there early to register as we had signed up for a basic rope course at 8 just in case but it didnt really teach us anything we didnt know so it was basically just a matter of making sure we where properly packed and ready to start and then pre-hydrating and getting some food into us. At around 10 the rain had died off and there where the first signs of the weather (which would be great all day) improving - excelent.

Around 9:30 we where handed route instructions for the 2 main bike loops of the day to mark up our belfast street maps. Coming from about a mile and a half from City Hall, the route was pretty easy for me but I imagine would have been difficult enough for folks not from Belfast.

Fairly close to 11 we all gathered at the start trying not to look too nervous for the cameras and group of shopers who had gathered to see what was going on. The race briefing was the expected rules and safety info and then we where handed over to the Lord Mayor for the start. We were promptly handed back to someone else to explain what we had to do after the start as we had no idea at this point!

Race started properly and it was a mad dash to a questionaire where we had to get 6 out of 7 correct before being issued with the next instructions. The answers where all to be found within the railings of City Hall and included things like "How many non stained glass windows are on the front of City hall?," "How many tonnes can Samson and Goliath each lift?" and when was Belfast Castle built?" This was good fun and spectator friendly as it was a while before everyone dispersed for an hour or so.

Questions answered, we got our instructions for the next section which was some orienteering round Belfast city centre. We had a 12 o'clock cut off time which we hadn't fully realised and this gave us about 45 mins. We didnt really pay enough attention to all the points and assumed they would be in roughly a sensible order. They were...ish but a couple where not so we missed a couple and where en route to the last one at the back of City hall to find a marshal removing it. This was when we realised the 12 cut off time but at least we where not far from the bikes.

I was feeling good at the fairly high pace Chris and Paddy set at the start but unfortunately 11:30 had marked the last point of the day where I was able to walk/run properly/at all. Having left the house in the rain at 6:45, and getting caught up in the pre race excitement and chatter, I didnt think that by the time the race started, my feet had been wet for 4 hours already!. I had also lifted my trail running shoes without thinking simply because I always wear them during adveture races. However, although they are worn in fairly well they are very much not comfortable on my feet on tarmac. This, combined with wet feet meant that I blistered very badly very quickly and after 1/2 hour of the race was reduced to a hobble for much of the time we were not on the bike.

Anyway back to the bike which gave my feet some rest and it was a cycle to the main Cave Hill Country Park entrance way up the Antrim Road. This is not steep until the last 200M but it is uphill all the way and Chris' usual knee issues started bothering him about half way there on top of cramps in his calfs. These issues would hamper his cycling all day and added to my feet issues, slowed us down a lot.


The bikes where dropped again and it was a clockwise run up the side of the hill, along the top, down the other side and then across the bottom back to the bikes. This was an interesting jog/walk/hobble as I'm much more used to cycling on the hill. We walked up one particular trail I cycle down regularly and I can't believe the speed I usually go down that on a bike. It really gave me a new perspective of my usual route. My feet where ok up the hill as I just walked/jogged on my toes but across the top and down was really bad, but eventually we made it back to the bikes. A huge thanks at this point to the medic on hand who bandaged my feet up as well as he could. This gave us a 20 minute wait but the extra cushioning made walking a bit more bareable and off we continued on up the Antrim road.


After a few 100M we swung right onto Greys Lane for a fast twisty decent to the Shore Road. This decent has speed bumps every 100M or so and these are great fun for getting some quite impressive air. Another advantage is that landing like this on a hardtail MTB repeatedly is great for bursting blisters! Another right onto the shore road took us back towards Belfast centre until a footbridge across the motorway. Then it was through the docks, across the Lagan and past the Odyssey. This leads to an industrial area and so wide open straight boring roads it was.


We made fairly good time along the Sydenam Road, Airport Road and then onto Airport Road West where there was a brief stop for a knot tying task and water fill up. On out the road again brought us to the Team Time Trial. We where told that the marshal had ridden the 1.5 miles out (taking us almost to Hollywood) and 1.5 miles back again in 9 minutes and we would get a 2 minute penalty for every 15 seconds we took over his time! The results sheet shows we took 11:25 for this which was pretty good at this point. Visit to the medic number two was then required when Chris suddenly got a bad nose bleed for no apparent reason. He was told it was probably a combination of exhaustion and dehydration so we took a 10 min break to refuel and increased all our fluid intake. We also dropped the speed a little (more) and there where no more nose issues.


The route from here was basically a reverse along to the Odyssey and then back to the City Hall. One thing we hadn't realised on the outward leg was how much of a tail wind there was and so the head wind at this point was another unexpected hindrance. We had been told to stick to the exact route which included following traffic rules and we did but it was a mental battle to follow the one way route round the City Hall which included about 5 red light waits instead of the 50M roll to the transition point.


There was a blind mans buff waiting for us at City Hall, where we had to navigate a blindfolded Chris round a course made up of crowd control bariers to a specific point where the checkpoint was located. Once he had dibbed in we then had to get him out again and it was off again on the bikes for loop 2.

This took us to the Ormeau park where we dropped the bikes and headed to the river for the Kayaking. It was the usual two man jobs so I sat this part out while Chris and Paddy sped off at a good pace down the less than clean looking Lagan. They where about 25 minutes so I had cooled down by the time they returned but I wa sbetter than Paddy who got serious cramps and couldnt walk after sitting in the Kayak. Im not one to laugh at a team mate but Chris and I had to mention that it was good to see him struggle slightly instead of us.

Back into the park and we decided to skip the space hoppers. Previous experience told us that these are very hard on the legs and the course was pretty long. Paddy was up for it but it would have probably spelt the end of my race had I attempted them at this point. We headed over to some trees to follow a rope through themwhile blindfolded and tied together which was fun. Then into the tenis courts for some short tenis and basket ball tasks before heading to the BMX track to do three laps. At this point we knew it was only an hour to the supposed time cutoff and knowing that in our state it was a 25 minute cycle up the towpath to the next tasks we where very close to calling it quits at this point. Due to Paddys encouragement we decided to go for it anyway and headed up the Lagan towpath, not too different to me as I commute along this every day.

We missed the rope task and got to the tasks at Shaws bridge so a bit of back tracking found us standing at the bottom of a tree in a queue with our harnesses on. After waiting for about 30 minutes we where told that they where starting to close the tasks so we had to do either the Shaws bridge tasks or this rope task. Since by this point, we where not exactly fighting for position, Paddy decided to hit the water and Chris and myself waited at the ropes. This probably messed up our timings but we where not fussed. The ropes involved a ladder climb onto a cargo net. This net was very difficult at this point as I could barely hold on. At the top it was a rope change onto a zip to another tree where a rope with knots was thrown to me and I was told to pull myself up it. I could only laugh at this so the marshal pulled me towards the tree until I could get a foot onto the branch. Here it was another rope change and an abseil to the bottom again.

Chris and me headed back to the bikes and with Chris by this stage barely able to bend his knee to pedal, he headed back down the towpath (by this point ignoring all route instructions) while I went to get a slightly damp looking Paddy. We caught Chris him about 5 minutes later and rode at a fairly decent pace back to the finish where by this time all the finishing obstacles where being bypassed as the course was being wrapped up. We clocked into the finish about 8.5 hours after the start and barely able to stand. Some warm champ was wolfed down and I headed to wait my lift. The weather had been great all race but I got drowned in the 10 minutes I had to wait on my lift - typical.

Roundup
We thoroughly enjoyed this race and will be back for another go next year assuming it comes back. It was a new experience for us having a team of three and its supprising just how much this changes the dynamic of a race.

Having said that, I was left slightly dissapointed with the experience. As I said above it was great and I will be back for another go but one of my issues was simply our performance and this was mainly due to me on my feet. We are pushing it if we claim we got 2/3 of the course completed and it really was not that hard. This probably contributes to my points in my next paragraph but does not completly account for it. Here goes...

My other main issue was the actual feel of the race itself. Im going to get complaints for saying this but my personal opinion was that the actual course/tasks and hence the whole experience was a bit of a let down after years of reading the reports from the rat races across the water. It just didnt seem to be as impressive an event. There didnt seem to be a "biggy" to talk about for weeks afterwards. I know that they had a rope task canceled on them in the docks days before hand and perhaps this was the "biggy" in which case my complaints probably are not justified.

One thing I could perhaps say about the actual route taken is that I dont think you are really seeing the best of a city in an industrial estate which was a fair percentage of the route. I know in belfast the "Titanic Quarter" is a big thing but the reality is that these are just boring, wide, long, straight roads. I also could not help but notice that the smaller tasks where not terribly well spaced out. The first bike loop was by far the harder and although this got it over with, it left the more fun loop which had 90% of the tasks until you where too wiped out to enjoy them.

I hope any organisers who read this can take these points as constructive. The organisation of the race was fantastic. Everything that I saw was very smooth. The marshals where all brilliant. The course was in general good. The small tasks where all fun. I could go on and on about the good points but why do I get the feeling everyone one is only going to remember my previous two paragraphs? I should mention at this point that a good few of the people I talked to afterwards where in agreement with me about the race not being quite as grand as they expected.

Any how I will be back next year for Rat Race Belfast round two (assuming they allow me).

I wont mention our exact results and final timings but... other reports and the final results can be found here.

Mark