Red Bull Hill Chasers entries close today – Professor Peter Higgs close up – Edinburgh Spy Week at The Filmhouse – Heriot Watt rowers take on New Zealand – Ken MacLeod on flying saucers
Cycling enthusiasts have until later today to register for this year’s Red Bull Hill Chasers 2014 – the UK’s only multi-discipline uphill cycling race, transforming the historical Old Town into a gruelling race track for one night only on Saturday 12 April.
Riders are being encouraged to register to take part in the event, sponsored by Charge Bikes, from today by visiting the website.
Now in its fourth year, but making its Edinburgh debut only last year, and previously been held in Bristol and Malaysia, the unique urban event will give 500 bike enthusiasts from BMX, mountain bike, road cycling and fixed-gear disciplines a chance to race against their heroes, including Olympic BMX rider, Shanaze Reade.
Battling head-to-head to settle the long-standing dispute between disciplines, amateur racers will be invited to partake in a series of five punishing, mass-start knockout rounds, before being whittled down to just 40.
Following the qualifying heats, the fastest aspirant riders will then battle it out against 10 of the UK’s most elite cycling stars in a bid to steal the winning crown to become the Red Bull Hill Chasers 2014 ‘King of the Hill’.
The international competition will take place on The Mound – a punishing 200m uphill sprint beneath the dramatic Edinburgh skyline.
Cllr Steve Cardownie, Festival & Events Champion, City of Edinburgh Council, said: “We are thrilled to welcome back the Red Bull Hill Chasers to Edinburgh following the great excitement and boost to the city the event brought last year, when 5,000 supporters took to the Grassmarket to cheer on more than 100 riders. This year the uphill bike sprint will kick off at the Mound and where could be better to host what will be yet another fantastic cycling event in Edinburgh.”
The qualifying rounds will be held on The Mound between 10:00 and 14:00 on Saturday 12 April. For your chance to compete against the elite as one of the 40 amateur riders please visit the Red Bull website and register for your place in the qualifiers.
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As part of the Edinburgh International Science Festival there is an audience with Professor Peter Higgs at the Queen’s Hall on 9 April 2014. A conversation by Edinburgh’s own Nobel Prize winner with Professor Frank Close, a fellow particle physicist, will no doubt be very entertaining.
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From tomorrow The Filmhouse is hosting Spy Week. We quite fancy Three Days of the Condor. What about you?
All details of the films being shown can be found by clicking here.
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Rowers from Heriot-Watt Rowing Club took on New Zealand opposition from the University of Waikato for a Glasgow 2014 inspired international challenge match. The event took place over Skype in Zeros in the University’s Student’s Union on Tuesday 1st April from 8.15 to 9.45pm.
Watch the video below – and read our longer article here!
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Ken MacLeod is our local sci-fi writer who lives in South Queensferry. He is an acclaimed author who enjoys a great deal of success with his books. Now you can listen to him talking about his flying saucers and encounters with aliens on the Scottish Book Trust podcast which you can access here. Ryan van Winkle of the SBT conducts the interviews. And you can download the podcast to listen to it offline.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
