On Good Friday I set off to London with my lovely friends Laura and Helen as we had signed up for a treasure hunt run. We did not look even slightly out of place travelling into London wearing Bunny ears at all.
The event was run by Dead Drop Fitness and I had not done one of their events before but they were being discussed in an OCR Facebook group I am part of and I was intrigued.
We had opted for the 10k version and the mission was simple the Easter Bunny had all his chocolate stolen by the Evil Rampant Rabbit and it was our mission to follow the clues to recover the stolen chocolate, take down the Rampant Rabbit and save Easter.
A week before the event we received an email telling us to add someone as a friend on Facebook and they would be leaking information about the event over the coming week. We first received an email with some clues as to where the event may start and information was drip fed to us through the week on the lead up. The clues were also hilarious – in the emails giving us bits of information the story was very funny and I won’t give too much away but it contributed to making the whole event a lot of fun! We then found out the day before where we were to head for the start and what time to be there for.
Once we got to the start and found the other ‘operatives’ waiting in Berkeley Square, some also wearing bunny ears so we knew we had found the correct starting point, we were giving a briefing, a map and explanations about how this would work. To my relief this is not just a race but there is a different side to it as not only do you have to get to the finish point but there is extra fun involved, which was our strength.
At 12.30pm we all set off and to begin with we had to find 3 separate chocolate dealers who we met and had to give the password of ‘I want to rub chocolate all over your body this Easter’. It is only once you had given the password they would speak with you, firstly by giving you chocolate and then giving you a clue. The three clues led you to the Easter Bunny who was in Hyde Park. The Easter Bunny had 4 clues to give (that you could only have one at a time). Each clue gave you a number that you then entered into an app to lead you to the finish point where you would find the Evil Rampant Rabbit and then beat him (with a very soft stick – no harm to bunnies here) to get the stolen chocolate back.
Extra fun included rabbit selfies – so on the map there were optional rabbit selfies marked where you can go and take a selfie, which then deducts 8 minutes from your time – we were doing the 10k race and so had to complete a minimum of 5 out of 16. Don’t want to brag but we got all of them (boom)! You could also take a photo of other operatives (without them noticing), which then gets them 8 minutes added to their time. Let’s just say we took a lot of those!
We were lucky in our team (Scrambled Legs) as we had our very own personal human sat nav by way of Helen who very freakishly knew every square inch of Hyde Park and the surrounding areas. I’m not joking it was like she had a built in park compass and I said if ever she wanted to give up her job as a PA she could be a black cabbie, not that you need a black cabbie in the park but you know what I mean. Seriously one of the clues for a rabbit selfie was to take a pic at the circular horse track and to try and get a horse in the background. Helen promptly turned full circle and headed off in the direction of the track (that I didn’t even know was there) though did tell us we would not see a horse, which we didn’t and so most of the clues went this way.
Laura was very stealth like and running off in every direction though taking off her bunny ears when we saw operatives on other teams so they didn’t notice us. However, given that most people in the park were having a leisurely stroll, picnic or playing with kids and we were running around with a treasure map I think we stuck out like a sore thumb and not sure taking the ears off made much of a difference ha ha. It surprised me how much we didn’t care we were in a busy park and carried on running around like lunatics without a care.
We tried to incorporate the OCR in us all with Laura climbing on top of the post box we needed a pic off and when we had to take a pic on the band stand Laura did struggle as there was a fence around it, with a closed gate. I should add the fence is about 2 feet tall so not much of an obstacle though Laura is not one to break the rules so whilst Helen and I jumped it she politely walked round and through the gate.
We got to the pub, which was the finish point, with most people already there – I think we were 3rd from last to turn up but our surveillance skills were on point and we only won!!
After we had bashed the Evil Rampant Rabbit we were each given an easter egg, medal and drink at the bar and as we won we also received a bottle of champagne.
I cannot recommend doing an event from these guys enough. What is not to like? You can get in your exercise, spend time with friends, get to run around London having fun, excellent value for money and I guarantee you will laugh a lot and not regret signing up. I will absolutely be doing another one for sure!
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