The Tour Bus

The male member of this team thought he was going to be 'treated' to ballroom dancing lessons in Brisbane for his 40th birthday... what a surprise (and relief) for him to find he was entered in City Raid!

Once given the map, I think Chris based our race strategy on the decision that Team Tour Bus would run the furthest of all the teams!!! Initially heading along past Kangaroo Point cliffs saw us pick up a couple of low scoring checkpoints before becoming lost in the park searching for other aeroplane makers. I asked a man camped in his car if he was going to help us, but he spoke very little English, and clearly thought I was mad! Once we sorted ourselves out, Chris was keen to run the extra kilometer up and down a rather steep set of steps to retrieve my badly constructed but vaguely airworthy plane.

Under the Story Bridge and a race along to Mountain Designs, where some helpful shop staff assisted us in gaining clues for the crossword challenge. We managed to give a number of other teams the slip here as we dashed madly through the valley sex shop strip, picked up our "Dicky Sipper" and grabbed another checkpoint as we headed to the pool for a refreshing swim... for Chris, that is.

Cross country through the frog pond park, over the bridge, along past the RBH and out to the train station we charged, gathering points along the way. We had time to make and drink the worlds strongest coffee, run up Brisbane's steepest hill, to a memorial checkpoint before meeting Mr Smith on an inbound train and hopping off at Central for more sprint work.

Up the stairs of Jacob's Ladder to the elusive sculpture (thanks to the team who traded it's location for a Dicky Sipper), across the road for a refreshing lie down next to the fountain to stamp the card under a rubbish bin!!! Whoever tied that stamper has to be commended for their sense of humour.

Up to North Quay next, and along to Queens Park, where we located the checkpoint right where Rog and Rebecca had hinted - thanks guys :) No time for a Tim Tam as we raced back across the bridge to Southbank, grabbed a checkpoint past the bridge, built sand sculptures Michelangelo would've been proud of, and just made it onto the last go-round of the Ferris Wheel... A quick phone call to a net-surfing teen at home bagged the word definition checkpoint, and we raced across the finish line with a couple of minutes to spare.

In all, we ran about 18km... Not far at all really, considering it took us 3 hours to do it! But by god was I ever sore the next day (and the day after). We ended up getting 2nd place, which really capped the night off for Chris. I took him to spend his winnings at Mountain Designs the next day, and he got some great gear!!! He is rapt!

We can't wait for the next one in May! I keep telling Chris, who's training for Ironman Aus; "Just think of it as 'Cross training', only a LOT MORE FUN!!!"


Race Report - Team The Tour Bus
Janette McCosker