About The City

Bristol is a city built from the Sea and its rich maritime heritage can be seen all around town. Originally an Anglo Saxon settlement called Brigstowe, by the 14th century the city was trading with several countries and ships were leaving to found colonies in the New World. The most famous of these was John Cabot’s ship the Matthew which set sail in 1497 from Bristol, hoping to find a passage to the East Indies. He bumped into Newfoundland instead! A replica of his ship can be seen today in the Floating Harbour. 

In the 18th century Bristol became England's second biggest city for a short period and this success was built on its trading links, when it was inundated with goods that flooded into the city for distribution around the country including sugar cane, tobacco, rum and cocoa, all of which were products of the slave trade, on which much of the city’s wealth was built. The recent dedication of Perot’s Bridge in the regenerated Dockside area calls out recognition of some of this more sombre heritage, alongside wharves and even caves that reveal the huge trading heritage of the city. Some of these warehouses are still standing, such as those at the mouth of the Floating Harbour which dominate the landscape in this area.

By the 19th century Bristol's port was beginning to decline but the arrival of a new kid on the block, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, helped to attract further investment into the area. He ended up giving his name to the city in more ways than one, marking his legacy with masterpieces of Victorian engineering such as the Clifton Suspension Bridge, the SS Great Britain and Temple Meads Railway Station.

As with many UK cities, bomb damage in World War 2 removed some of the earlier buildings and these were replaced with 50s and 60s developments of lesser character, although much of the earlier city architecture remains today in the areas around King Street, Queen Square, the Christmas Steps and St Michael's Hill. Beautiful merchants’ homes in pretty Clifton village also remain in abundance, with many of the superb houses in this area built from the proceeds of Spanish shipping plundered off the coast of the Americas, mostly funded by Bristol merchants.
From the pretty streets of Clifton and the fresh green expanses of the Downs to the maritime sights and sounds of the inner city areas and the grand Victorian architecture of Brunel’s Suspension Bridge and other city icons, there are 100s of ways in which you can enjoy this city and the Rat Race seeks to encapsulate most of them!

Over the past 3 years the Rat Race has taken adventure racing participants all over the urban areas and into the surrounding hills and fields, offering up great views back to the city. We have even taken the teams to another city just round the corner – the beautiful Georgian spa town of Bath, some 15 miles to the East. Bristol’s civic icons are both old and new, with the imposing neo-Gothic Wills Memorial Building and the Victoria Rooms vying for top spot with Brunel’s masterpieces and other notable buildings such as the beautiful Council House on College Green and the fabulous Regency-styled Royal York Crescent in Clifton. But recent developments in the city centre have also thrown up new structures and the Rat Race event village rubs shoulders with such attractions as the new @Bristol development on the Harbourside, with its shiny Planetarium. Also under construction is the new Broadmead centre, replacing the post-war shopping precinct that has led many Bristolians to let out a sigh of despair! This development has turned a good chunk of the city centre into a building site…and maybe a whole new chapter of Rat Race activities await upon its completion!

Bristol’s past is rooted in the Sea and all over town you are never far from water and constantly reminded of it. Whether it’s a glimpse of the masts of the famous SS Great Britain eternally moored in dry dock or a refreshing cider in one of the old dockers’ pubs, the city harbours a world of ancient seafaring that can still be seen all along the Floating Harbour. The Rat Race will ensure you experience this heritage both on shore and on the water.

Join us here for the Bristol Rat Race and enjoy the laid back culture of a beautiful city, built on the sea trade and enjoying one of the best qualities of life in the UK. If you live here, we’ll show you some stuff you have never seen before, that’s for sure. If you’re visiting, you might not want to leave…

Gert Lush!