Hi Guys and Girls,

What a weekend!



Last Saturday night was the night we held my 21st birthday party.



As a lot of you readers may remember, my actual 21st birthday was back in August, 2007, when I was racing in the Oschersleben 24 hour in Germany.

Although I celebrated my 21st in a quiet way with my Mum & Dad , my brother, Damian, and his girlfriend Amy, as well as my girlfriend, Amy, in Halberstadt, Germany, I was unable to celebrate with the rest of my family and friends, including my sister Desi and her husband Glen, as they were all back in Australia, and I was busy racing.

I made plans to have a big 21st birthday celebration when I got back to Australia for my summer break, and that’s exactly what I did!



As I like to always make things a little bit exciting. I decided to make my 21st party a fancy dress affair. The theme was "PIMPS and HOES", and boy,  what a theme it was!



The invites were sent out and the party was in motion.
Mum and Dad were keen to help with the party, and went about designing some pretty flash invites – a musical CD with a Robert Palmer lookalike inviting people to my party with the "Simply Irresistible" theme song reworded as an invitation.



We planned to have the party at Mum and Dad’s place at Mitchell’s Island, as there was plenty of room to put up a big marquee , and still have room to allow people to camp in the backyard. We didn’t think too many people were going to be fit to drive home at the end of the night.


The party was due to start at 7.30pm and go long into the night.

My good mate, Brendan, nominated to be the DJ for the night. He does DJ work for the local night clubs here in Taree, so when he said he was keen to do it, I jumped at the idea.

We planned to have Brendan do his DJing work in the garage , with the adjoining carport as the dance floor. The marquee was strategically set up in front of the dance floor, with a second dance floor inside the marquee.
Another good friend of the family, Warren Berry, said he would do some live singing when Brendan wanted a rest. Warren does a lot of weddings and is a great singer, busting out some oldies which are always good.


The boys set their DJ gear and live gig gear up, and I knew it was going to be a fantastic night.
Brendan arrived with 2 massive speakers and a sub that was half the size of the shed. He had strobe lights, lasers, smoke machines, and turn tables, and a book that was full of CD’s.

Wazza showed up with more speakers, a lap top with heaps of tunes, a keyboard and a microphone. We were all set for a BIG night. Luckily Mum and Dad have very good neighbours at Mitchell’s Island, but I reckon the people across the river would be in for a big night as well, because the music was definitely going to amplify across the waves!


A lot of friends who had come from a long way started to turn up earlier than the organized time, so the fun started much earlier than anticipated. We thought things were going to be washed out at one stage when we were
setting up and a mini hurricane hit the island. Every single helium balloon, that we had spent hours blowing up, flew out of the tent into the clouds – hopefully we didn’t damage too many seagulls in the melee.


A cool dude who I met in Belgium 2 years ago, by the name of Rennie Scaysbrook, came up from Sydney , and quickly introduced himself to Brendan. I didn’t know, but Rennie was also a DJ in some of the big Sydney night clubs, so he was right at home with all of Brendan’s gear.

Soon enough it was time to get into our disgustingly outrageous outfits and get the party started!


Everyone began turning up in their "Pimp and Hoe" outfits, and it was really great to see family and friends that I had missed while I was overseas. Some of the outfits were brilliant, and a lot of my mates who were a little more
"out there" came dressed up as hoes – not a pretty sight!


Once everyone arrived, Damo killed the music and wanted to make an announcement. He stood in the middle of the shed and said, 

"Listen up, listen up. Tonight is a special night. Its Alex’s 21st birthday and so I wanted to get him a gift that he will always remember, so here it is………….."



Everyone started cheering and then he turned around holding , high up in the air , a YARD GLASS. Damn.


A lot of non Australian readers may not know what a yard glass is. Let me try to explain. A yard glass is a glass tube with a bubble shape on the bottom of it, and it holds 8 cans of beer, or a YARD of beer. As an Australian tradition at most 21st birthdays, the yard glass is produced for the person turning 21 and it his obligation to drink the yard glass in one go - no stopping for breath – you must skull the whole yard glass in one big chug.

Because of the shape of the glass, once it is raised and the liquid starts to flow, it is difficult to pause. The clanger comes at the bottom of the yardie, when you get to the bubble. The beer gushes forth into the unsuspecting novices already full mouth, and generally soaks the person holding the glass.


Former Australian Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, was at one time the world record holder for the fastest skulling of a yard of beer. What a legend. A Prime Minister and World record holder for drinking beer. That pretty much
explains what Australians are like.

Everyone started cheering as I raised the heavy yard of beer towards my mouth. I took one deep breath and started to drink.

I have to say, I knew I was in trouble pretty early on. I started drinking and was in to about a third of the glass, when had a little dry retch. I continued on, with the crowd urging me along. I got to around 2 thirds of the way down, and I WAS in trouble. I started to feel extremely sick. I kept pushing on, recalling the times I had been racing in the 24 hour endurance races at 3 am in the morning and thought, " This is easy compared to that"  Then I hit the dreaded bubble. The hardest part of the yard is the bubble, because when you reach that point, the yard glass gets a rush of air , which in turn pushes the beer out at warp speed down your throat. I knew this part would be the hardest bit, so I started to slow down the lift of the yard. I was close, real close. I had about 3 mouthfuls to go. My stomach was completely full of beer. I knew I was close, the crowd knew I was close, and I was thinking (to my peril) "I can’t hang on much longer" , when all of a sudden it was all over. I felt a rush of beer come back up from my stomach into the glass.

I didn’t complete it. I crashed out with 3 corners to go. Damn. I couldn’t believe it. The crowd slapped my back, saying "Top effort pimp", but it was like racing and crashing just before the end. I felt good for the effort, but was shattered because I was unable to finish.

Almost There.........

I have to say, now that I have attempted the yardie, I would much rather race a 24 hour. It was tough.

Everyone then decided to have a go. First up for the challenge was one of Damian’s New Zealand team mates. He is from California and he and his brother decided to come to Australia in between races in NZ. The rendition of "Hotel California" playing in the background urged him on, but he crashed out early.
Then it was Damo’s go. Damo was unable to complete the yardie that night. He had done it admirably at his own 21st birthday 4 years earlier, and it probably brought back terrible flashbacks for him. Best to stand down after
the first retch.

Then it was Rennie’s turn. Dressed like Hugh Heffner, he filled the yardie and began to drink. At first he was drinking pretty slowly. I thought he might have been in trouble early, but then he removed one hand from the yard glass and started swinging his free hand, gesturing to the crowd to make some noise to urge him on.

The crowd went wild and all of a sudden he was suckin that beer down like a baby sucking his mother’s ……………

Down went the bubble – he was triumphant! He had completed what everyone on the night thought was impossible. He had done it.

The crowd cheered and everyone congratulated him.

Just Beautiful!!!

Show Me Ya Grills.......

The night was getting late but there was still one thing that had to be done


"The 2008 Pimpathon Games"

Again it was another 4 drinking games.



Everyone that wanted to take part had to line up with a partner. Damo and I decided we would be partners. We formed a Diablo/Yart partnership


ROUND ONE: Wheel Barrow Race



Contestants had to line up in their individual teams.

There were 2 exact slalom courses.

Teams got to choose which course they would like to race on.

Damo and I read the course and decided, with the amount of damp ground on the right side, the left side would be the faster line to race.



One member from each team would have to sit in the wheel barrow. Then when the lights turned green, the other member would have to chug a can of beer, push the wheel barrow and swinger inside through the slalom course. Then,
once he made it to the other side, the swinger would jump out and the pusher jump in. Swinger would then chug a beer race back through the slalom to the finishing line.

The losing team would be eliminated and the winning team went into round 2.



Damo and I felt pretty confidant. We knew our race line was fast. Our wheel barrow was in good condition and we felt, physically, not too bad. We knew we would be quick with the launch from the start gate and our change over would be fast with our endurance experience.

It was now our turn. A few fist pumps and handshakes, and we gave the mighty ducks signal and were ready to race.

I decided to swing first and Damo could take the first run. The flag was dropped and Damo chugged that beer like he was stuck in a desert for a year. He then put in one of the most amazing stints to the first change over. We had a good lead. I then drank my beer as fast as I could and returned across the line in first position. We had won and were onto round 2.





ROUND 2: Team Chug.



Pretty simple…..

2 teams at a time,

Fastest team to drink 2 beers went onto round 3.

Again Damo and I beat our competitors and moved into the penultimate round.



ROUND 3: Flip Cup.



It was now just 2 teams left.

Damo and I aka Diablo/Yart

VS

Brendan (the DJ) and Brett (Amy’s brother in law)



Flip cup was not just a challenge of drinking but also a game of skill. 2 teams, sitting either side of a table, with all 4 players having a cup full of beer each.
Then when the flag dropped, one member from each team would have to chug their beer, put the cup on the edge of the table upside down, then flick the cup into the air, making it land the right way up. As soon as that moment happened, the next member from the team would repeat it.


We got to the game. Damo started against Brett. Damo drank and flipped first Success. It was then onto me. I drank, but was struggling with the flip. Then bang. I landed it. We had won. We were now into the final.


It was now the final showdown .

Damo aka Yart


VS


Me aka Diablo.



THE FINAL: Beer Bong



Basically it was a contraption that had 2 tubes with a tap connected to a funnel.
Each tube was exactly the same measurement. The Games referee would fill either tube to the top, then when the flag was dropped, we would turn the tap full and chug the final beer. I shook Damian’s hand and we were, at that
moment, brothers in battle.
The final race, 2 brothers that had worked as a team, were now mortal enemies, sworn to defeat each other in the final event of the games. The flagged dropped and we began to drink.

I must say, it was bloody close - too close for me to decide. The crowd roared , and Damo stood (a task in itself) and with great aplomb, lifted my hands into the air and announced, "Alex is the Winner".

It was over. This game that had been so hard fought, had finally (and thankfully) come to an end.

I had won.

I stood on top of the table and lifted "The 2008 Pimpathon Games" Trophy above my head in sheer enjoyment. It was another hard contest, but this time I had come through. The trophy in itself was a revelation – my Mum made me swear not to use it for the purpose it had originally been intended, and I assured her I wouldn’t – apparently the gold paint may be toxic (you’ll see what I mean when you view the photos)

2008 Pimpathon Games Winner with throphy to show!

Clayton....One sexy girl!

It really was one great night. Thanks to everyone who came and made my night something I will never, ever forget.

Dad and John Inskon.