Ride the Lobster
Ride the Lobster was the world's longest unicycle race, held in June 2008.[1] This 800-kilometre international relay race around the roads of Nova Scotia, Canada was conceived by Edward Wedler. He gave the race its unusual name because he thought the roadways around Nova Scotia resembled a lobster.[2]
The five-day race had five stages, composed of four legs winding around the province of approximately 200 km each and one day of time trials. The first stage was from Yarmouth to Annapolis Royal. The second stage went to St. Margarets. The third stage was composed of two time trials, Hubbards in the morning and Truro in the early evening. The fourth stage was from Truro to Antigonish. The final stage went from Port Hawkesbury to Baddeck.[3] The event coordinator, Heather LeBlanc, intentionally made early stages easier for the contestants and the final stretch difficult.[1]
It was originally proposed to hold the race annually but there have been no subsequent events.
Rules
Each team was composed of four people—three riders and one in support. The support person was not allowed to ride. The three riders took turns completing the distance of the race. The rider was not be switched over the first 10 kilometres of each race day. After that, the team had full discretion as to how often they wanted to switch riders.
All riders completed the 21 km time trial.[3]
The race
In 2008, the inaugural race began on 16 June, with 104 riders (124 had qualified) in 35 teams from fourteen countries.[1][4]
The race concluded in Cape Breton with contestants reaching the finish line between 5–7 pm on June 20.[1] The winning team was awarded $5,000 in cash and prizes.[3]
The pre-race hypothesis that geared unicycles would offer a significant advantage over non-'gunis' was seemingly born out, as the winning team rode gunis.
Results
| Rank | Team | Country | Time HH:MM:SS |
| 1 | German Speeders (Jan Logemann, Johannes Helck, Arne Tilgen, Holger Summer)[5] | Germany | 36:17:47 |
| 2 | NZUNI (William Sklenars, Ken Looi, Tony Melton and Véronique Grégoire)[6] | New Zealand | 36:35:46 |
| 3 | Texacali (Kevin Chang, Corbin Dunn, A.J. Greig and Sondra Grisham) | United States of America | 37:17:18 |
| 4 | Personal Rollercoster (Roland Kays, Vincent Lemay, Steve Relles and David Kays) | United States of America and Canada | 37:29:38 |
| 5 | Smile (Geoffrey Huntley, Chuck Edwall, Sam Wakeling and Jonathan Marshall) | Australia, United States of America and United Kingdom | 37:52:05 |
Participants List
| Team | Team Name |
| #0 | Smart Fellers (Erik Doane, Aaron Nutten, Jacob Sprague, Alex Chiappone) |
| #1 | Goonies (James Amon, Joe Marshall, Spencer Owen, Stephanie Thornton) |
| #2 | Korean Dream Team (Ji Won Kang, Jin Bong Kim, KiSook Kim, DaeHeon Kang) |
| #3 | Team Venus (Irene Genelin, Louise Lovelle, Michele Manna-Hastings, Andy Cotter) |
| #4 | Texacali (Kevin Chang, Corbin Dunn, AJ Greig, Sondra Grisham) |
| #5 | UFO (Hyun Uk Jung, Kyung Soo Kim, Byung Gon Lee) |
| #6 | Team Balance (Geoff Elder, Richard Dawson, Perry Woodin, Kelly Elder) |
| #7 | Yellow Line Fever (Beau Hoover, Nathan Hoover, Geoffrey Faraghan) |
| #8 | Masticating Bunnies From Hell (Jiahui Cai, Xuyuan Kee, Wen Jun Shuan Sim, Michaël Montplaisir ) |
| #9 | Team Venture (Frank Brown, Ian Gallant, Claude Magnuson, Holly Gallant) |
| #10 | HURT (David Davis, Heather Marriott, Will Murray, Athena Pappas Davis) |
| #11 | West Coast Cokers (John Bain, Jim Dugue, Jamey Mossengren, Carol Bricker) |
| #12 | Hans Islanders (Signe Gjerding Jensen, Thomas Olsen, Todd Sankey, Neville Sankey) |
| #13 | Atlas (Roman Allemann, Jeff Groves, Mike Thaler, Jason Allemann) |
| #18 | Team Flirt (Tim Lee, Joe Lind, Ryan Woessner, Jason Heimann) |
| #23 | Lost Wheelers (Steve Colligan, Tue Johansen, Paul Royle, Richard Wroot) |
| #25 | Team Tricycle (Russell Davis, Matt Burns, Levi Pounds, Kerri-Lynn Pineau) |
| #27 | NZUNI (Ken Looi, Tony Melton, William Sklenars, Véronique Grégoire) |
| #28 | Team Manly Legs (Jordan Armstrong, David Cox, Eric Pulvermacher, Peter Van Thiel) |
| #33 | Team Unicycle.com(Scott Arnold, Dustin Kelm, Joshua Torrans, Jody Arnold) |
| #38 | Nova Scotia High Rollers (Beth Amiro, Eric Morneau, Stephen Plumridge, Heather Plumridge) |
| #39 | Surly Speed Goats (Morgan Griffith, Dan Hansen, Dave Krack, Michael Sabourin ) |
| #42 | Yam Power (Ashley Foster, Rachel Kalmar, Jim Sowers, Heather Noone) |
| #43 | 2Y2D (Emily McCormick, Joshua McCormick, Scott Wilton, Eric Moncrieff) |
| #44 | German Speeders (Jan Logemann, Johannes Helck, Arne Tilgen, Holger Summer) |
| #56 | The Old Peculiers (Alan Chambers, Keith Griffiths, Mark Wiggins, Chris Dobbie) |
| #69 | Totally Doable (Tom Holub, Chris LaBonte, Michael Scalisi, Nancy Finkle) |
| #77 | American Mojo (Bill Merrylees, Mark Premo, Eric Scheer, Dawn DiCecco) |
| #78 | Smile (Geoffrey Huntley, Chuck Edwall, Sam Wakeling, Jonathan 'Rocket' Marshall) |
| #86 | Unicycle Max (Charles DeMilner, Kyle DeMilner, Maxwell DeMilner, Courtney Bengtson) |
| #87 | Personal Roller Coaster (Roland Kays, Vincent Lemay, Steve Relles, David Kays) |
| #97 | North American Youth (Nick Allred, Eric Evenchick, James Spurling, Allison Maher) |
| #98 | Detroit 'RTUC' Busters(Bryan Alexander, Marcus Sternberg, Jason Wieske, Ben Comerzan) |
| #99 | Pudget Sounders (Bruce Dawson, Jeff Sloan, Joseph Myers, Lana Myers) |
| #100 | The Centurians (John Foss, David Stone, Dave White, Jacquie Foss) |
References
- Doug Mackenzie (20 June 2008). "Unicyclists from around the world make Cape Breton their final stop". Cape Breton Post. Retrieved 2008-06-22.
- "Unique race involving 105 unicyclists underway in Nova Scotia". CBC online. 16 June 2008. Archived from the original on 15 January 2013. Retrieved 2008-06-19.
- Official Website- Frequently Asked Questions Archived July 6, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- "Team N.S. enjoying the ride". The Chronicle Herald Nova Scotia. 19 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
- "Germans win unicycle 'Tour de France' in N.S." Canwest News Service. 20 June 2008. Archived from the original on 2012-11-04. Retrieved 2008-06-23.
- "Kiwi unicyclists second in Nova Scotia". Taranaki Daily News. 23 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-23.