Rally Report

The Rally to Restore Sanity didn't really go as planned, despite the fact that my only plan was to see the rally.

Here's the original post.

Pros: the weather, the cleaner-and-more-polite-than-your-average-rally crowd, signs made by said crowd, sincere apologies for foot treading.

Cons: I could kind of hear Stewart and Colbert, and when I put my camera in the air and zoomed in a lot, I could take a picture of a distant stage and then look at it wistfully.

After spending a couple of hours just trying to get to the back of the rally, I got kind of hungry and thirsty and claustrophobic and bored and ended up just watching it on TV.

These were some of my favorite signs and ralliers:

Bosphorus Race

I believe this is the only cross- continental swim, unaided by hurricanes. The creator's friends tried to talk him out of it: "the Bosphorus is too dirty, its currents are too unpredictable, the giant tankers and freighters that traverse it are too dangerous. On top of all that, it is illegal to swim anywhere but along the shore." ...BUT... "I was not dissuaded"
Champion!

When: 3rd Sunday in July

Where: 6.5 km (~4m) along the Bosphorus straight in Istanbul. Start in Asia and end in Europe!

Noteworthy POV from a British swim team: "...there we were one boiling July day in Istanbul, standing on the Asian bank of the Bosphorus Strait, surrounded by really hairy Turkish men in speedos, wondering how we actually got there." - The Sisterhood

The Competition: In recent races, over 800 people from 40 different countries have attempted to cover the distance within the 2 hour time limit. A Turkish athlete won this year by finishing in 41 minutes, and was presented his award by ants (or aliens?) in tuxedos.


Thank you so much, Dan, for this idea, the great sources, and for making up 25% of my immense following! Cami - I'm researching your warrior dash next :)