THE MAP

Crazy old guys with hairy chests and gold chains, battle hardened street fighting rockers, safety pinned punks, dazed ravers, Y2K hippies, pepped up on caffeine beat poets, old Italian ladies, landed immigrants, yuppies, locals and others all stood up, clapped, cheered, hollered and threw stuff to show their appreciation for the rolling chaotic spectacle that rumbled and clattered by the stoops, corners and sidewalk cafes. No the circus had not arrived in East Vancouver .... but something much more sincere and unrehearsed .... this was in fact the Third Annual Shopping Cart Race.

The brainstorm of one Mr. Dave Drano had again materialized and with positive results. The formula was simple and concise: each cart would consist of a two human team - a pusher (human motor) & a pilot (human projectile) - there was a start, a finish and a free case of beer for the first place team. The better part of this course led right down Commercial Drive which has a pretty steep downhill pitch in one area. Caster wheels fluttered like spastic moths through the fast sections and one or two parked cars might have gotten sideswiped along the way.

Modification of carts is encouraged as is the use of weaponry like marbles, nails, cans of oil, rotten fruits & vegetables or anything else (I saw a pig's head in a plastic bag!) to throw at other racers thereby hindering their progress. The Elgin Street Hoods made an appearance with a radical concept machine that was half bike (slick tire no less) and half shopping cart.

The winning team of Hare & Ruffles had sussed out that the weak point in shopping cart design was the lack of steering and remedied this by rebuilding the front of their cart with handlebars, a bicycle steer tube and headset, a front axle and non-pivoting cart wheels. These innovations coupled with an all out haphazard style of pure acceleration during the race made them the easy winners.

One shopping cart experienced over heating problems and burst into flames just before the finish line, luckily no one was hurt when the flaming cart crashed into another cart at full speed resulting in a spectacular grand finale.