~ City Chase ~

Big race has arrived. Remember that I was talking about City Chase about 6 months ago. Remember how I was also saying what fantasic shape I was going to be in, running 10km distance and other such nonsense. Well...the race came, that's all I can claim that was accomplished.

So Devon (my brother for those of you that are not in the know) and I are a team....along with 500 other teams of two.

We, of course, are the most rockin' team. Partly for our good looks and humor, but mostly cause we're just darn excited to be there. No notice the lady behind us wearing a toque. That would be because it was stinkin' cold. Last weekend, in fact all this week....20-24 degree weather. Day of our race....high of 5 with snow, rain and hail. Lovely. Whatever, didn't dampen our spirits any. Though you can't always tell with Devon if his spirits are dampened of if he's out of control excited. He's sort of neutral all the time. Me, on the other hand.....

And forgive the quality of the pictures, they were taken with my Blackberry. Which was appropriate considering they were a major sponsor of this event.

If you aren't familiar with City Chase. It's like The Amazing Race. And if you aren't familiar with The Amazing Race....what rock have you been living under?!!?!?

The basic object of the race is to complete 10 of 30 chase points in less than 6 hours.

So we meet at Eau Claire and listen to a bunch of corporate stuff from the guy. Then he tells us there are 10 volunteers with 60 sheets each on Princess Island. Which is not that far away, however 1000 people are trying to all get to the same place. We finally get a clue sheet, and then the strategizing begins. 30 clues. Not 30 destinations...but clues you have to decipher to figure out the destination. Then you need to get an address if you don't know where it is...which can be anywhere in the city. Then you have to get there. The clincher is....you can only use city transit or your legs.

First clue leads us to Stronghold Climging Centre, which is a fair jont from Princess Island. We ran that leg. Dev climbs and I figure out a list of street names and the cities they are located.

Second clue leads to Peter's where we need to find two people to sing a song with us. These two poor fellows were accosted in the drive thru line.

You'd think this was pretty easy. But we didn't get to pick our song. As Sirius Radio is also a sponsor, we had to flip through songs until we found one that we could sing along to for one minute. And because Mitsubishi is also a sponsor, we had to sit in the car to do it. Wasn't too hard.
Third Clue led to Jim's Archery....where we rocked the bull eye and kicked it out of there in about 10 minutes.

Clue Four - Cycle Works where I drove the ATV and Dev pushed the frisbee on the ground with a broom. This picture isn't of us....but I can't drive and shoot at the same time....sheesh.


Clue Five was to Fort Calgary. Bus ride and then a solid run to get there. First task was Dev wearing a helmet with a bucket on the top. I had to throw the hackey sack. Every success meant he moved back farther. Second part was stilts. I was very graceful.....

Clue Six was a bus ride to Pearce Estate Park for Highlander obstacle course and tire lifting. 130 pound tires.....seriously.

Clue Seven was also in Peace Estate for orienteering to solve a clue. Didn't get pictures of these, can't always stop to snap a shot. It's a race after all.

Clue Eight was a bus ride back on 9Ave to the Tea Trader where we had to use their Blackberries and find clues along the street. Take a picture which was verified by their add on program.

Clue Nine - bus ride back downtown then a good walk to find Hotel Arts. Had to copy the fancy table setting....this is a bad picture...whatever. It would also seem that Devon becomes possessed by table settings....what's with the eyes??!
Then Clue Ten - climb Calgary Tower. Dev went up, I went down. You'd think down would be easier....and it is a bit...but my knees are killing. Here's the view from the top.

Then run back to Eau Claire and finish before the time limit. Which was really our only goal. Finishe before they close the course. The big wig fancy guys that win do it in 3 hours or something crazy. Dev and I took 5.75 hours. But we finished. We were team 124 out of 500. So we still kicked some hinney.

A great day. Look for City Chase in your town. It's a bit pricey...about $150 for a team. But for a good cause, and for sure a fun time.

We'll be entering next year...a couple different cities too.