The City Chase
Saturday, October 25, 2003

Tash and brother Andrew before the race

Race report from Tash...
Date: Tue Nov 11, 2003
Subject: City Chase Race Report (a little late, very long)
 

This is my long overdue City Chase race report but better late then never. First off, the City Chase will be featured on “Venture” on CBC this Sunday. So you can actually watch some of the race. I think there were about 9 camera crews out some stationed at “Chase Points” and but most following specific teams. I’m not sure these were the CBC people or someone else filming to make a show out of it. I raced with my brother and we had a lot of fun. I would definitely do this race again, it was very well organized. Registration took place at the Hard Rock, they took team photos of us coming in and we were pleasantly surprised to receive free framed copies of the photo when finished for free, for both of us! Nice touch – we did not have to pay for them. I have attached a digital scan of the photo. We knew ZERO about the race at this point. Even less than we would have known for an adventure race.  To prepare we bought a tourist map of the city, carried our backpacks with lots of water and some food, plus two cell phones and a compass. Apparently, this race was supposed to be a “test” – they hoped for 50 teams, at best, to register to work out the kinks. They could only take around 120 teams and over 250 applied to take part in the race. Moral of the story – if you want to do the City Chase next year, register early! I saw Esther in the washroom prior to the race! Go Penguins :) We were told to walk over the Nathan Phillips Square and pay attention as we pass through what I think is Trinity Bellwood Park. There was some guy saying over and over again “My name is Bob” and a lady with the population of Toronto written on a board. When we got to the Square, we noticed a whole bunch of “City Chase Pies”, one per each time laid out on tables. They all had, to varying degrees, what looked like ricotta, whip cream, raw eggs and live maggots. Some were pure maggots and eggs. Beneath the pies was our first clue sheet in a ziploc bag, using only your mouth you had to "free” the clue sheet which was conveniently glued to the bottom of the pie tray. Being the wimp my brother is when it comes to anything gross. It became my job to free the clue sheet, pretty gross as raw egg and maggot slipped down the front of my race bib. The clue sheet said you have to find “5” of the following many items. Two of which we had done already – a guy name Bob and the population of Toronto. We paid some homeless guy for a banana peel, went through the trash to find an empty Tim Horton’s Cup (others team actually went to Tim’s) and picked up ten cigarette butts. We then booted back to a “Chase Official” and got our master clue sheet for the whole race. The sheet featured clues for 15 Chase Points, of which you had to complete 10 and have your passport stamped at each. Remember you can only use the TTC or run/walk. Here are the highlights: Slow danced at the corner of Yonge and Bloor Andrew got dunked by a stranger in a dunk tank at Yonge and Eglinton Ate moldy cheese at the St Lawrence Market Had a make-over, my hair coloured green outside of Planet Ink. Counted the number of signatures on the walk of fame (three times before getting it right!) and identified a billboard object, ran around the several blocks looking for the Chase Official to report this information to… Yikes! Identified plants at the Rosedale Reservoir – seeing neither of us know anything about plants this took us forever. Went to Asian Farm, priced some fungi and then had to locate a cat on a pole and report the price to a Chase Official. Couldn’t find the pole, this took us a while also! I should visit China Town more often. At the Ice Lounge on the Danforth, laced Andrews’s feet in hockey skates, without missing an eyelet, in a bucket of ice water. It was VERY painful; I lost all feeling in my hands and Andrew in his feet. Plus Andrew was still getting over the cold water dunk. Hands down the best Chase Point was called “Roger Roger” and took place outside of Bar 501 in the Ghetto. It was the most Amazing Race or reality TV like. All the two-way radios were out so we opted to use our cell phones after it was ok’ed by race organization. (Another 15 minute waste of time, but one of those kinks they were working out, so no biggie). I took a clue sheet and Andrew went off in another direction. Andrew did not see the clue sheet it was all in riddle/code/clue. I had to direct him and he had to interpret what I said based upon what he could observe around him. Things like visit Mr Wildes (Oscar Wildes Pub), visit a place named after a man who operates a wind-power boat (Sailor’s Bar) – count sidewalk squares, turn XXX degree, etc. Other teams had different clue sheets. Eventually Andrew ended up at Cawthra Park had to read the plaque, go to the address in the sixth paragraph and return with some information for us to get our passport stamped. We did this twice to get it right in about 20 minutes. Teams took from 5 minutes to 90 minutes to complete the Chase Point! We finished in 5 hours towards the end of the middle pack and saw Esther coming in with her teammate on our way back to the Hard Rock. Winning team was roughly 2.5 hours and the second place team almost a full 30 minutes after then. The top ten has a spread of something like 1.5 hours in times. And we missed the eating crickets station! :) At the Hard Rock we picked up our photo, partook in the free food – again very cool (FREE). After the race we both nursed some very sore legs for the next three days. Running up and down subway stairs will kill the quads! Tash

 

Home

About Us

Calendar

T.O. FAQ

Photos

Links

Page last updated: Nov 12/03