Tampa Urban Dare an Amazing Race

The highlight? Weaving through the crowds at the Gasparilla Art Festival as we ran down Franklin Street in downtown Tampa in search of the ArtLoud art installation. I am an avid fan of Amazing Race (Sun. night at 8p.m. on CBS), and I felt just like I was on the show.  Wearing my race number and dressed like my daughter and teammate, Wendy, it was  clear to onlookers that we were not there to view the art. They weren’t surprised to see us, however, because 74 other teams were also navigating the downtown and Ybor areas in search of checkpoints and dares.

The low point? When we realized we had lost our list of clues. That could have been tragic, but we had already solved all the clues and only had three more checkpoints to visit, which we had already plotted on the map.

Saturday’s Urban Dare was the third Urban Dare to take place in Tampa, but several different companies hold such races in large cities throughout the country, so urban race fans now have the opportunity to compete in races in Tampa several times a year.

It works like this: Two-person teams, either wearing matching costumes/uniforms or wearing Urban Dare t-shirts, receive a list clues. Each clue sends the team to a checkpoint where they must either perform a dare or get a photo taken to prove they correctly solved the clue and found the location.  The clues are difficult enough to require the help of the Internet; therefore, most teams – perhaps all – have one or more people stationed at a computer. The computer person can be at the starting and ending point – Four Green Fields in this case – or anywhere in the world, for that matter. The last time Wendy and I did this race, my son Ben solved some of the clues at his computer in San Francisco. Participants read the clues to the computer person over cell phones.

We finished in approximately 16^th place, in a time of roughly three hours, after running about six miles - not including one trolley ride - according to Wendy’s Garmin. Teams are permitted to take subways (no help in Tampa), buses, and trolleys but not taxis, bikes, rollerblades, etc. Race Director Kevin Keefe recommends cell phones, computers, and GPS devices.

 The strategies vary. Some teams solve all or most clues and plot their route before leaving the starting point, while other teams leave as soon as they can solve one clue. 

We have found the first strategy works best, but our computer team continues to verify answers and provide directions long into the race.

The one clue that caused us and everyone else a real headache was “OVERBOARD – Get your picture in front of an establishment with the name of a movie where Goldie fell in love with a man whose aspiration was to build and own a putt-putt golf course.” We knew the movie, but no amount of googling revealed the location of the quiet, little supply store with the red and yellow wooden sign located near Channelside. Without the help of a trolley driver, we might never have found it.
 
Eight teams, all on the same trolley, cheered in relief when the driver called out, “There’s overboard,” and pointed to our right. He’d probably been asked about that place 50 times already. We scrambled off the trolley, destination found.

The clues took us from Four Green Fields on Platt Street, to the University of Tampa, the Channelside area, Ybor City, Ft. Brooke Cotanchobee Park, up and down Franklin Street, and Poe Plaza. The last element of the race involves working a jigsaw puzzle at the finishing point.

Because I love trivia, word puzzles, strategy games, running, Tampa, and teaming up with my daughter, this race seems custom made for me.

Thanks to our Internet support crew, my husband David, Wendy’s husband Jeremy, and our good friends Taneel and Nick Ziegler. Without them, we might still be out there.

 I’m already looking forward to next year. It wasn't easy, but it sure was fun.

For more info and the Urban Dare schedule, go to www.UrbanDare.com. This was the first Urban Dare of the year, so there will be plenty of opportunities to race in other cities. It’s a great way to see another city. I’ve also competed in urban adventure races in New Orleans and San Francisco, and every one has been a memorable experience.