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Published: March 19th 2007
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Jekyll & Hyde compete in our second City Chase
For those of you that aren't aware, CityChase, is an event run in about 10 cities around the world each year. It began in Canada, but now spans a much wider audience, with the money raised being used to support charity. The basic idea is to use public transport or your own feet to get around to a number of cryptic locations and complete certain tasks and then get back to the start point in the quickest time.
Drew (aka Hyde) and I competed in our second CityChase over the weekend - our first being in London last year. On that occasion I had flown into Heathrow from Thialand at 6am the same morning - and not to break tradition, Drew flew in from Beijing the morning of our Sydney chase. We can both confirm that this is one of the best ways we know to beat jetlag!
As the starting gun sounded we picked up our clue sheet and figured out a strategy - head toward Bondi Junction first, then return to the city & circular quay, before heading to North Sydney and back to Luna Park.
This had us running to Milsons Point train station where thanks to Sydney Transport, we spent the next 24 minutes waiting for the train that was supposed to be arriving in 5. It was great to see other people had finished a checkpoint or two and were catching the same train as us...
Nonetheless, after a furter 10 min delay at Town Hall we did finally make it to Bondi Junction - yes our strategy to rely on Sydney trains was to prove a major flaw in our strategy. Here we completed a scavenger hunt (which included, among other things, picking up discarded cigarette butts, yesterday's paper and a condom) and then managed to win a quick game of poker at the Eastern Leagues club to pick up our second stamp.
From here we caught the train back to Martin Place - raising money from fellow passengers on the way (see photos!) knowing we had a charity checkpoint later. We ran down to the Minus 5 bar at the 'toaster' and proceeded to eat 15 cubes of ice - my mouth was bleeding by the end. From here we ran to the four seasons, got cable tied to
two other competitors and made our way up town to Lees St (past Martin Place) where we got cut loose - yes a reference to Peter Falconio. A quick jog to Jackson's on George saw Drew donning a dress while I applied make-up to his face - then it was a quick bout of pole dancing...if they video feature works...it's hilarious!
We then went on to write a limerick at the Glenmore Hotel, before I made a balloon dog and sold it for charity at circular quay. We decided to change strategy and catch the bus - which was a stroke of genius. In no time at all, we were in North Sydney making our way to the PCYC. Here we went through a training routine of punching, push-ups & sit-ups. The trainer told me I didn't know how to punch (what a meathead!) - I told him I was a lover, not a fighter... he didn't smile, I thanked him and left quickly...
From here I sewed a trouser hem (this was the organiser's idea of a task that benefited women!!!) that wouldn't have lasted 5 seconds, and we picked up some "Go Australia" souvenirs for our
Raising money on the train
Drew is not the only seedy (but generous) character on board... upcoming trip to the Caribbean, and made our way down to our final checkpoint in Kirribilli. The choice of eating two worms each or completing a sodoku puzzle. Still having a dodgy stomach from Africa in January...I opted the puzzle, which I complete, but which probably cost us about 10 minutes - definitely eat the worms next time.
We then ran back to Luna Park - with drew making silent curses at how fast we were running. We did make it back to the finish without stopping however, and somehow managed to pick up 10th place out of 300 teams - what a result! We certainly didn't expect to go that well, and would have won $1,000 if we were wearing Reeboks - unfortunately Reeboks suck, and we were both wearing Asics.
Amazingly we were only 15 minutes behind 3rd, and 26 minutes behind 1st. The guys that won only used public transport once, a train from Bondi Junction to Martin Place. If we were a little fitter (we did walk at some points), hadn't been held up so much by Sydney Trains and I hadn't been so precious and had just scoffed the worms, then we may
have been heading to Chicago to represent Australia later this year....but then again, hindsight is so clear!
Thanks also go to Jodie & Pricey - who were on hand to support us.
Check out some of the photos. I'll next blog when Drew, Merlot, Chris & I make our way to Grenada in the Caribbean in April to see a few games of the cricket world cup!
Hasta luego,
Ben (aka Jekyll)
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Oh My God!
Trouble, trouble, trouble......as usual.....but well done on doing it for charity. P.x