UK – The Rat Race Urban Adventure Series, organised by Detail Events Ltd, has already held the first two events this year in Birmingham and Bristol. The next will be in Brighton on 28 June; then Edinburgh in July, Belfast & Newcastle/Gateshead in August, and Galway & London in September. The Rat Race is a physical and mental adventure challenge that uses the cityscape as its playground. It is a team event in which participants hike, bike, abseil, climb and kayak the streets, structures, waterways and urban landscape, whilst navigating their way around a course that’s only revealed to them hours before they begin. The Rat Race is the creation of Jim Mee, ex Red Bull events specialist and now Director of Detail Events and the Rat Race Urban Adventure Series, as well as other adventure oriented events. Edinburgh hosted the first Rat Race Urban Adventure and proved to be the ideal venue seeming to have been purpose built as an urban adventure playground: on July 17th 2004, 115 teams participated. Last year, for the first London Rat Race there were just under 800 participants/adventurers US – On July 10, Red Bull will install 25 huge black cubes on the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis. For the next 10 days, two faces of each cube will show backlit photographs of extreme sports: motocross, heli-skiing, spelunking and the like— an exhibition Red Bull calls “Illume” , the first international exhibition of action and adventure sports photography to tour the globe. The energy drink company has already put “Illume” on a snow-terraced mountainside in Aspen, Colo., in a circle next to the ocean at Huntington Beach, Calif., on a street in Portland, Ore., and in a plaza in Atlanta, Ga. US – Popwake Wakeboard School Inc. presents the "No Boyz Allowed" all girls wakeboard camp with pro rider and world renowned coach Cathy Williams! This is a great opportunity to get coached and ride with one of the leading ladies of wakeboarding. No worries about your skill level, age or ability as you will get one on one coaching in a fun, non-intimidating atmosphere, with fellow girls who love to ride. Be a part of the first annual all girls wake camp on Lake Koocanusa, 7-11 July. US – Lancaster, OH: Saturday is National Skateboarding Day – the all-day event will feature a skating contest, six bands, a rock-climbing wall and plenty of food. The event will also show off Lancaster’s skating crown jewel: the skate park at Miller Park which has long been overlooked by a number of local skaters.
Surfing Want to win a custom built surfboard? Get your entries in to win your brand new “Gold Coast Surfboards ” surfboard, custom made for this competition – the surfboard will be delivered to the winner, anywhere in the world. FRANCE – Orange presents The Biarritz Roxy Jam Festival of Female Surf, Music & Art, 11-16 July 2008 Côte des Basques – Biarritz. To celebrate women’s surfing in all its forms, explore the roots and boardriding influences and mixing different genres and styles. That is what the Roxy Jam’s all about. A unique Festival that brings together surfing, art and music …girls style. UK – Newquay’s Ben Skinner has returned from Japan with a second world number two title. Skinner, 23, finished second in the Pro Longboard Classic at Taito Chiba, part of the ASP Longboard WQS Tour. It is believed to be the highest result ever achieved by a British surfer in an ASP event outside Europe.