Ride the Lobster

Ride the Lobster was the world's longest unicycle race.[1] This 800 kilometre international relay race around the roads of Nova Scotia, Canada was first 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]

Originally the race was meant to be held annually. After the initial race in 2008, the organizers have not arranged subsequent races.

Contents

Rules

Each team was composed of four people—three riders and one support person. 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 want to switch riders.

All riders complete the 21 km time trial.[3]

The race

In 2008, the inaugural race began on June 16, with 104 riders (124 had qualified) on 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]

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 Fellas (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 (Scot Cooper, 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

External links