Beat The Cock! are two triathlon events in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas that take place only on in-game weekends (it can be accessed only from 00:00 Saturdays until 24:00 Sundays). Each Challenge consist of swimming, cycling and running (on foot), in this order, being in both cases the cycling part the longest by far. It is a physically demanding challenge and therefore a high cycling ability and high stamina are required to win the race, as virtually all of it must be made sprinting to come up first. As a matter of fact, CJ's is required to have already gained some cycling level in order to enter the event, otherwise a message will let you know that circumstance.
During the event, a low level of Fat will help CJ swimming, cycling and running faster and sustain sprinting for longer in all three parts, whereas a higher Fat level will severely handicap both his speed and sprinting ability, specially during the running phase. The bicycle to be used is a Mountain Bike in both cases.
The triathlon is sponsored by Cluckin' Bell and poster ads for it can be seen in each gym in the game; a man dressed in the Cluckin' Bell clerk yellow cock-suit will take part of the event (hence, Beat The Cock), as well as other seven contenders, for a total of nine participants per race. They all perform well in the initial swimming sectors, fairly as good as CJ, but Carl should have a winning hand in the cycling sectors and sprint for longer than them on foot, as long as his fat is low enough and has high Stamina.
The first Beat the Cock Challenge starting point is located in Santa Maria Beach, Los Santos; next to the pathway that goes to the lighthouse, and its total lenght (measured by Stats) is approximately 6.75 kilometres. The triathlon starts with swimming across the Los Santos Inlet, to Flint County, for about 350 metres. Then you must cycle for roughly 5.1 kms. to the Avispa Country Club, in San Fierro, through Flint County's woods. A part of this sector is on asphalt roads but more than half is over dirt roads, crossing through Angel Pine in a north direction and then entering the highway (with no other traffic for the time being) northbound to the foot of Missionary Hill. The triathlon ends with an ascending sprint to the white building on top of Missionary Hill, good for another 1.3 kilometres. This challenge is available once the mission Green Sabre is completed, and the prize for winning is $10,000.
The second Beat The Cock Challenge is at Fisher's Lagoon in Red County, near Northstar Rock and Palomino Creek, and its total lenght (measured by Stats) is 20.5 kilometres. It starts with swimming along the creek to Dillimore (about 490-500 metres), then cycling a very long way to San Fierro through the desert to Las Venturas for 19.0 kilometres and then running on foot down The Strip (southbound) to the finish line by the Four Dragons Casino for another kilometre. This challenge is available once the mission Yay Ka-Boom-Boom has been completed, and the prize for winning is $20,000.
Winning the challenges is not required for reaching 100% completion of the game.
Carl Johnson needs to come in first in order to beat the event. By competing in the event, Carl is automatically given Pro-Laps 'Ball Shorts' to wear, visible unless he happens to be wearing a "special" outfit previously in which case the Special outfit "prevails". After the race he remains clad in the shorts and needs to return to a safehouse wardrobe if you want to revert to the leg clothes he was wearing previously.
In the "on foot" sector of the Santa María Beach challenge (the climbing to Missonary Hill) it is possible to gain some advantage running in a straighter line from checkpoint to checkpoint instead of following closely the zig-zagging road. This is useless however in the running part in Las Venturas' Strip since all checkpoints are in a straight line.
Whereas in some automotive racing challenges when the player could shoot the opponent and get away with it, shooting the opponents while racing in this race will result in an instant disqualification, as well as not getting on/off your bike in time. The race is also automatically lost if Carl's rides his bike into a body of water.
Unlike the automotive challenges, all traffic is removed from the roads during the race. Since bicycles are not equipped with radios this can result in the races taking on a somewhat "ghost town" feel, with the sound of wind and other weather being the only "soundtrack" to the proceedings. Once a race ends (one way or the other) normal traffic is restored.
The name of this event is an obvious reference to masturbation. It could also be a reference to injuring the penis as the word 'beat' is another word for 'hit' or 'strike'.
Trivia
- "Beat the cock" is a slang term for masturbation.
- It is possible to use the Jetpack via cheats during the running and swimming events.