The 2008 Ride the Lobster 800km unicycle race is now over and the unanimous sentiment from all involved was that it was a huge success and a wonderful event. The local communities throughout Nova Scotia were extremely supportive and the event couldn't have been done without their involvement and deadication.

Through rain, cold weather at times and some pain everyone completed the race.

The German Speeders took first place with an impressive show of speed on geared 36" unicycles. The team from New Zealand took second and Texacali, the team from Texas and California, came in third. 

All Toronto rider's finished the event, a feat in its self, in good spirit. Congratulations to all riders including Toronto's Jeff Groves, Roman Allemann, Mike Thaler, Jason Allemann, Emily McCormick, Josh McCormick, Russell Davis and Eric Moncrieff.

Not to be forgotten is Darren Bedford who fixed numerous mechanical problems throughout the five day event. 

A full rundown of the results can be found here:
http://www.ridethelobster.com/race/final.php

The youngest team of riders (2Y2D) featured two of the Toronto Unicyclists own riders, the sister/brother duo of Emily McCormick and Josh McCormick. They were joined by Scott Wilton from the US and support person Eric Moncrieff, also a Toronto Unicyclist. They finished in a very respectable 22nd.

Many of the older riders were quite envious of this team as they were still full of energy after riding 200km each day while many of the other riders were still trying to catch their breath and sooth their legs.

Team Tricycle featuring Toronto Unicyclist Russell Davis and fellow Canadian's Matt Burns and Levi Pounds did very well and finished in 30th. I overheard Russell saying that he would actually train for the next distance event.

Way to go! 

Carl Hoyer's pictures from the last half of the event can be found here:

Day 3 Criterium
Day 4 - Stage 4
Day 5 - Stage 5

Photos of Toronto Unicyclists who participated in the event can be found in the club gallery .

Keep your eyes peeled to this thread on rec.sport.unicyclist as it features numerous photo postings from others who attended the event:
http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70716

You can also checkout this thread which detailed some live action from the event and post event write-ups from riders:
http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70698

Here's hoping that this event will spawn a new breed of unicycle events!