The annual Oxford Cambridge boat race attracts a global audience of 400 million, so it's popular enough to warrant a rival, land based version. Instead of boats the competing teams would man multi legged, articulated millipedes each capable of holding 51 rowers, - one for every set of two legs plus a sculler to shout directions and make encouraging noises. The legs of the millipedes would be controlled by the same rowing motion as the boats and would race across an undulating terrain at high speed. As the rowers would face backwards, just as in the water based version, the job of the sculler would be vital to ensure that the millipede did not careen out on control and topple over, as once on its back it would have great difficulty righting itself. Variations would be many - mud hill climbing, greyhound track events, sprints and city street marathons are all possible.
-- xenzag, Oct 22 2005

wind-powered millipede data:image/jpeg;bas...sH8TXV1dT1sek//2Q==
Remove the sails and add rowers, and this is candidate "land rower" [Vernon, Aug 25 2015]

This idea could only be improved by the addition of some sort of flaming, fiery obstacle that would need to be negotiated at an impractically high speed.
-- DrBob, Aug 24 2015


This was one of the first ideas I posted here..... Seems like a long time ago now.
-- xenzag, Aug 24 2015


It's not the years, it's the bunnage.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 24 2015


//sculler// sp. "cox", Shirley?
-- pertinax, Aug 25 2015


Probably, but who wants to be a cox?
-- xenzag, Aug 25 2015


//Oxford Cambridge boat race// Sp. "Cambridge Oxford".
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 25 2015


[stet]
-- pertinax, Sep 07 2015



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