Manchester boyband Race The Horizon celebrated the 100 day countdown to the Dodgeball World Cup with a performance of the official theme song at the Sugden Sports Centre on Friday.
Their funky song titled Whatever was written and produced by the band after they were chosen to represent the host city at the opening ceremony on April 16 at the National Basketball Arena.
It is the first Dodgeball World Cup to take place, as men and women from England, Wales, Austria, Northern Ireland, Australia, Cameroon, Malaysia, USA, Egypt and Scotland are set to compete.
DODGEBALL WORLD CUP: The first international tournament is hosted by Manchester
Tom Hickson, president of the World Dodgeball Association, said: “We decided back in 2014 that the first Dodgeball World Cup needed to take place in Manchester following an application process for whole cities to host the world cup.
“We’re very excited to be here hosting the first one.”
With the England men’s team having five World Championship wins under their belt, the event is gaining a lot of traction.
ESPN and ITV have expressed interest in bringing it to a wider audience.
Race The Horizon, formerly known as The Mend, rebranded in September and are made up of Kris Evans, Craig Worsley and Jay Kontzle.
The band, who got to the final of Britain’s Got Talent in 2012, joined in with a game of dodgeball with some Manchester school students at the event.
DODGE THAT BALL: Band prepare to perform as Manchester students play dodgeball
They said: “It’s a hundred days until the Dodgeball World Cup so this was a nice little opener for it.
“We actually didn’t know much about it, had to quickly ask the rules before we started playing and we’re all aching now.”
They are currently working on their next album which is set to come out at the end of summer this year.
FAN INTERACTION: Race the Horizon enjoy ‘little opener’ ahead of World Cup in April
They said: “We’re thinking Whatever might be our next single, we’re just doing the album at the minute so we’re getting loads together.
“The rebrand is what we needed, we’ve taken it to the next step and we’re growing up.
“The response that we’ve got so far was unbelievable.”
