Buying condoms, doing aerobics and running around a dinosaur with water guns and balloons! Just about the maddest CGCU event, the rat race turned out to be a great laugh and some mild trouble.

It's been a blindingly busy week for the guilds machine, churning out loads of fun stuff for the new freshers. The highlight has to be the rat race this Wednesday afternoon which about 30 students attended. The game was the brainchild of Henri Ozarovsky, man, who studied once in Michigan, US of A. The idea behind the game was to help freshers discover local South Kensington landmarks by playing a fun game while armed with water pistols and balloons!

Each 5 member team had to solve clues about the location of a landmark and move on to the next one in a Monty Python fashion. So "Fancy a gold prince Albert" lead a team to the Albert Memorial checkpoint. Key checkpoints included the Albert Hall, STA Travel, and the V&A and National history museums. The Albert Hall steps had some exciting musical challenges, the first was to guess guitar tunes and the second to partake in step aerobics! The step aerobics turned out to be most amusing as many passers stopped and watched students jumping and dancing in sync.

What added complete spark to the whole event was the fact that all the freshers were loaded with water guns running frantically around campus. Drama started at the STA checkpoint where CGCU team Helen Dawson, Caroline and Rob Hunt waited patiently in their CGCU blazers. However, the freshers took a while to get there so the team decided to hide with all water guns charged. Mr. Hunt hid and once most of the teams had gathered on the walkway to complete their task for the check-point, he launched a surprise attack on them from behind, showering all of the rat racers and a fair few passers by as well, innocently caught in the friendly fire. All hell then broke lose once the freshers realised they could get extra points for hitting people with water bombs. Very soon the walkway was awash with water and crawling with security! Mr. Hunt sheepishly took most of the blame while security gave CGCU members a ?good ticking off? for extra effect.

After the last challenge of buying Trojan condoms at Boots, the day ended quite well in Kavanaugh?s pub in Gloucester Road where the winners were awarded with Freshers Ball ticket vouchers. Spanner took a trip to the pub and was involved in a boomalaka with the freshers. The guilds team also attempted to compete in a boat race with the freshers but were ashamedly beaten to second place.

All in all, the rat race was a fantastic event, getting many freshers to know the local area while learning more about the CGCU. Many freshers were keen to get involved in the union's activities and will no doubt continue to add to the rich history of the union in the near future. So until next time, watch out, there?s a water gun about!