Comet's Carry-On Portland Urban Challenge
By Julia “Comet” Weatherby
The Urban Challenge is the best combination of a running race and scavenger hunt where two members of a team take to the streets of an urban area with 12 clues as their guide to the 12 checkpoints. At each checkpoint, the athletes must get one photo which includes the checkpoint and both team members. The team is allowed to run, walk and take public transportation. They can also enlist the help of their friends in solving the clues and guiding them to the correct locations over cellphone. Although there is no official course, the checkpoints must be reached in order, so most teams generally run the same path.
My sister Judy and I joined together to form Team Lewis and Clark (named after the famous explorers of the Pacific Northwest). Before the race, the teams compete in a trivia challenge. I was sure we'd be dead last, but fortunately, Judy knew her trivia! However, I should be ashamed. Being the Star Trek fan that I am, I even got the easy Star Trek question wrong. They scored our answers, and the top five teams got to go in the first group. We made the second group of five! It meant that three minutes after the official start, Team Lewis and Clark was given 12 clues and released onto the streets of Portland.
Each team has a "passport" which lists which checkpoint is the starting one for your team. That way, not all the teams are going from the same checkpoint to the next. However, you often saw the same competitors as you reached each checkpoint. Although we were competing, we often cooperated with other teams by taking photos of each other.
There's a skip man whom you're introduced to before the race. If you find him and get a picture of him and the team, you are allowed to skip a checkpoint. Our skip man was standing right in front of one of the checkpoints when we found him, so he was easy to spot.
One of the necessary skills in this race was being able to run and talk on the phone at the same time. Even more vital was the ability to run, talk on the phone and talk to your partner who also may be talking on their phone simultaneously. It helped if your partner had this skill, too. I won't even mention the art of dodging traffic!
We raised our smartest friends and family out of bed and in front of their phones and computers to support us. (Or were they foolish for being glued to their phones and computers for three hours?) We wouldn't have gotten through the race without them as we had many difficult clues. For example, “Do They Sell Dolls, Too? Unscramble the letters below to discover the name of the joint that serves as Checkpoint 3. And find it in downtown PDX. OUTDO SOD NOVO” (*Answer below.)
Our family and friends were given clues read hastily and out of breath over the phone as we ran. In return, they gave us ideas, answers, directions and addresses to our next checkpoint. Occasionally, they challenged us with misleading information. In our search for the smallest park in the world (formerly a utility pole hole), we ran in the opposite direction for at least 10-15 minutes, across the freeway overpass and out of downtown. Naturally it wasn't until we got to the top of a very steep hill that we discovered we were way off course.
Team Lewis and Clark (sisters Judy Zerzan and Julia Weatherby) find the smallest park in the world.
We ran a lot, used the bus three times and almost had to bribe a mailman for directions. The Portland transit system has an excellent website that allows you to enter your location and destination and it will tell you how to walk to the bus stop, which bus to take and when, and when to get off the bus and walk to your destination. I was also really impressed with my sister's athletic ability. She was always two steps ahead of me and carrying the backpack with all our supplies, as the course is unsupported.
The weather was great, being so much cooler than Austin in August, and the scenery was beautiful. We ran through some great neighborhoods, with flowers everywhere. We found ourselves pictured in front of an alien museum, behind a waterfall you can walk behind, on top of a huge sunflower mural covering an intersection and in a large rose garden.
Despite our extra hills workout, Team Lewis and Clark finished 13th with a time of 2:52!
The race was very fun and quite a great way to learn about the city as well as get in a great workout. The running effort was reasonable (about 13 miles), as we'd have small breaks waiting for a bus, sitting on the bus and stopping to take photos. We saw other competitors all over town with us and were often asked by the local people why we were running.
I was confident that the racing strategies and lessons learned from my Portland Urban Challenge experience would give my team an unprecedented competitive advantage in Austin a month later. Instead, we finished 37th. Well, at least we got some fabulous ice cream!
This race is being held in over 20 cities including Austin this year. For more information, see the urban challenge website.
* The answer was a donut shop by the name of VOODOO DONUTS.
Julia Weatherby is a marathoner and triathlete. When not racing, she searches for new places to run around the country as an IBM technical consultant. http://julia.weatherby.info
This originally appeared in Running Austin, the bi-monthly publication of the Austin Runners Club.
