Friday, January 15, 2010

"London To Paris" Premiere: The Aftermath

So the "London To Paris" movie premiere, and accompanying alleycat race, was held this evening.

On the race side of things, a grueling circuit of some of the steepest hills in Vancouver was on the menu. Starting outside the premises of legendary purveyor of track-related delicacies Super Champion Shop, racers threw themselves at the hills of North Main Street. Upon reaching 33rd Ave. (or thereabouts,) the valiant contestants had to mash their way up a steep, winding ascent to the top of Queen Elizabeth park. When this peak was reached, a challenge awaited!

Having been previously told to make sure they had a beer with them when they got to the park, racers were required to drink this beer through a beer bong when they arrived at the summit. Let me tell you this, friends: drinking beer through a beer bong whilst gasping for air is a challenging feat indeed.

Once the beer had been bonged, racers returned the way they had come, blasting down the serpentine decent all the way back to Super Champion. As far as anyone knew, this was to be the end of the race...but no! When the racers arrived, they were told there was yet another destination! Grandview Park, they were told, would be their next checkpoint.

Several rolling hills later, racers enter this second park, and had to hunt for the checkpoint marshalls. Eventually, they were located...on the polo courts, of course! No challenge to be had at this checkpoint, racers simply retraced their steps back to Super Champion, and then the race was at an end...for real this time!

Results:

First place went to cyclocross enthusiast and chronic sufferer of The Ginger, Morgan Taylor. Runner-up was the behooded Benoit, and third place was clinched by Nate and his handsome yellow road-conversion. First girl across the line was Haley, the brain behind the legendary Bridge Battle.

Post-race Shenanigans:

Once everyone was safely tucked back inside Super Champion, the film premiere began. I will leave film critiquing to those more qualified to do so, but I personally enjoyed it.

5 comments:

  1. Sir I would not call the majority of the descent serpentine, check it out on a map of course, but the first leg was pretty much a straight shot.

    The redirect at the finish was a nice surprise. I'm always stoked when a race is unexpectedly lenghtened.

    Thanks for the writeup.

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  2. The results you posted are slightly incorrect. According to the the order they came in, you are right. However, you didn't mention that first prize actually went to Dylan, who had someone else's bike locked to his at the start. The key got broken off into the lock and they carried the bikes over to super champs, where Tyler took an angle grinder to the lock, freeing the bikes. In an effort to catch up, they hammered away, only to run a red light in front of two motorcycle cops. Dylan got a ticket, resulting in first prize. Morgan got second prize, and the guy that had a cut lock got third prize.

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  3. Hahaha. Anon 11:21 is correct. First prize was actually given to a dude who got his bike entrapped in someone else's lock - which had to be removed via power tools - and then got a ticket for running a red as soon as he was on his way. The results I posted were the actual order of finish.

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  4. Is anybody posting pictures?

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  5. Waiting on pictures. If they show up somewhere on the internet, you can bet your ass they'll show up on this blog promptly.

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