The Great Urban Race
September 13, 2008
Portland, Oregon
WWT members Greg Bunnell and MikeWebb embarked upon a one of a kind scavenger hunt and road race, the Great Urban Race. The GUR, as it's commonly known, puts on several national races each year that culminates in the National Championship. The NC will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada. This year, GUR made their first trip to the Rose City.
Each team is made up of two people and dressing up in costumes is encouraged - but not by us. At the beginning of the race, each team is given an envelope with twelve clues. The goal is to figure out the clues or puzzles and document that you've solved them by taking photographs , usually with the team in the foreground. In some races, each team will be asked to perform a physical challenge - separate from the run aspect.
And, after competing in this year's race, it was agreed that the most critical component is a solid Command Central. WWT member Bill Kimmer (K man) was up for the task and he enlisted Greg's wife, Cami (the Puzzler), and his wife, Pat (I'm not just a CPA). WWT member Loren Bunnell (Buns) and his buddy Dick Helstrom were also enlisted for the event due to their knowledge of the cityscape. Bill's future daughter in law, Carmal (the Googler), was a late addition to Command Central just having come of waivers.
Each team is also required to have a name. We choose Chateauneuf du Pops, a play on the lovely wine from the Rhone Valley in France. Everyone spent their fair researching facts about our lovely city, teaching Greg how to use a "Black" Tooth, and generally spending way too much time on Google trying to get into the heads of those in charge of the event.
With note pads and pens in hand, a Garmin GPS (never used it), photographs of some local landmarks, Gatorade and a backpack, we were ready for the challenge. We'd been led to believe that the race would take us around the SW and NW portions of the city (and maybe even across the Willamette) and would not only challenge us mentally, but physically. Game on.
Greg and Mike before the race with Mike in his customary "model" pose and Greg with the "Black tooth."
Each team with given a blue envelope just prior to the start of the race and once they were all handed out, we were given our final instructions regarding the rules. Each team needed to successfully complete 11 out of the 12 clues (no mandatory clues for this one), we could not use any private transportation, and that was about it - oh yeah, just have fun! We tore open the envelope and headed across the street and attempted to take a photograph (a skill Greg attempted to master two days before the race) of the clue sheet with a cell phone and then e-mailed it to Command Central - the picture was too fuzzy. We found our way to the first clue, The Sugar Cube, on our way to find a fax machine. Mike "volunteered" to taste the offering.
Greg feeding his hungry buddy Mike at the first stop, a food cart known well to Portland "foodies" as the Sugar Cube.
We then found our way to a local hotel and asked if they'd fax both the front AND the back pages of the clue sheet. Sure, no problem they said. While it was going through, Loren knew exactly where an elephant sculpture was located and we were on our way to our second clue. We soon discovered that the faxes were not coming over very clear at this point. Two down and nine to go. It seemed like we had already run a 5k, but of course we hadn't - not even close. And the fax turned out to be the same page twice - oh, well. You get what you pay for!
Obviously not as tasty as the first stop, but still satisfying.
Our next stop was Powells on the SW Park Blocks - our first attempt to locate the mysterious "Portland" pen/pencil. We could have tried to locate an Oregonian from WEDNESDAY, but we thought the implement would surely be an easier find. They graciously agreed to fax the second page (promise) and gave us a tip for one of the remaining clues. We needed to take a picture of four people doing a cartwheel "in sand." They said there was a Bocci ball court just down the street. Score. Neither of us had done a cartwheel in, well, many years. We found another team at the spot and yet another stranger took our photos. Needless to say, it took multiple attempts to capture the necessary pictures. Please take special note of the impressive leg extension by all participants.
That's us in the "back row."
We then headed uptown to find Comedy Sportz's main stage. One of us was required to tell a joke. Mike graciously agreed - Greg isn't funny. His joke cannot be repeated on this site. On our way, we also needed to find someone dressed up in a Yogi Bear outfit. Not having located him on the way, we were thrilled when, on our way out, there he was.
Greg has "no memory" about Yogi's other hand or what his left pinkie is pointing to.
Five clues down and six to go at this point. The next clue turned out to be the hardest for us to locate - one of those silly horse rings that you always notice when you're downtown, but that are mysteriously difficult to locate when you need to find one. After running around NW Glisan to NW Everett between NW 11th and 14th for a bit, we found one.
Seriously, this used to be used to "park" a horse.
While Command Central was cracking the remaining codes and puzzles, we ran (it's true) east for the next clues. We had a choice to make, head to the bridge that was filmed in the movie Bandits, the Broadway Bridge, or skip that clue with the understanding we'd have to find our way to the Salmon Springs Fountain. We gave the bridge the nod after we were informed that we were only a few (meaning about a half mile) blocks away. Mission completed. And all this time we were still looking for that elusive pen or pencil that had the word Portland written on it - easier said than done.
That's it behind us some four blocks away, on the right - it's the orange thing next to Mike's left ear.
Seven down and four to go. Very nice. Command Central had cracked the two remaining puzzles. We needed to find an address with an 8 in it based upon solving the dice clue (not ordinary dice mind you), go to Portlandia, locate the directional marker in Pioneer Square and find a damn pen or pencil with the word Portland in it. We headed south and got the address out of the way. But wait, did it need to have two 8's or just one. We stuck with one.
Yes, we're looking a little winded at this point but there was a very strong head wind according to Dopler 8.
And as luck would have it, we finally found the pen at Portland Cutlery. It was his last one. Very nice. Nine down and two to go. On to Pioneer Square and Portlandia for the last two clues. We honestly thought about how nice it would have been to soak a little in the fountain but this would be the clue we skipped. Please note that we're not gasping for air but merely smiling for the photo. And where in the hell is the sign for "cold beer?"
Mike Please note that Mike was still able to make his signature runway pose - with the other hand.
And now to our last clue, a photo in front of Portlandia. This puzzle was solved by Command Central once again. Home stretch baby.
How far are we to drinkning a beer?
We quickly checked our clue sheet and confirmed that we had completed eleven tasks. We "sprinted" to the finish line. At this point, we were just about an hour and twenty minutes into the race. The fastest time had been recorded in the Seattle event at about an hour and a half - we were going to beat that for sure. But where would we end up? As we approached the finish line in the SW Park Blocks, we saw other bibs - we weren't going to be first. As it turned out, we finished the race in one hour and twenty three minutes and placed seventh overall in a field of about 125 teams. Not bad at all for our first attempt. The winning team finished the race in just under an hour and we were about ten minutes from being on the podium. We qualified for the National Championships this November in Las Vegas as a top 25 finisher. Please give us another excuse to go to "Lost Wages."
Overall, it was a great day. Perfect weather. Not too much running. And a cold beer to end the day courtesy of the folks at Superdog as we basked in the glory of finishing the race without any help or assistance from paramedics. In all, we figured that we covered over one hundred city blocks over the course of the race.
Peace at last.
None of this could have been done without all of those that agreed to spend a beautiful day indoors at Command Central. Our thanks, in no particular order, to Bill and Pat Kimmer, Cami Bunnell, Loren Bunnell, Dick Helstrom (in town for a reunion and best bud of Loren), and Carmal. So, would we do anything different next time? Sure. But we can't disclose those secrets until the next Great Urban Race.
Cheers!