New York’s 2009 Idiotarod

February 3, 2009 | Uncategorized

This past October I spoke at a California Tourism Industry Association (CalTIA) meeting on the importance of image on a destination’s bottom line. One of the destinations I referenced was Brooklyn, NY, which allows local attitude to percolate through bureaucratic stuffiness. I mean where else can you see road signs such as “Welcome to Brooklyn - You Talkin’ to me!?” or “Leaving Brooklyn - Fuhgeddaboudit”?

Brooklyn has percolated once again with the 6^th annual running of the NYC Idiotarod last weekend, a takeoff of Alaska’s famed Iditarod dog-sled race (there’s a similar event in Phoenix this Saturday). The difference is that here they replace sleds with shopping carts, dogs with people.

Five member teams — four in the dog positions plus a musher — push and pull insanely converted shopping carts on a six-mile race. This year the carts — which “can be modified, welded, broken, rearranged, and decorated in any way the team chooses” according to the rules — ran the gamet from the ancient (Roman Chariots, this year’s Best of Show) to current events (”Flight 1549,” a jetliner-themed cart paying homage to the plane ditched in the Hudson, driven by a pilot and pulled by runners covered in goose feathers).

At the shout of “Idiots, start your engines!” they’re off and running on a mystery course only revealed via text messages as the race moves along. The route is kept secret to thwart police, say organizers, who nevertheless watch it closely on the ground and from the air. From a cop’s perspective this group could classify as a mob running amok along miles of city streets. In past years they’ve moved the starting point miles away at the last moment to evade police.

(If you’ve received this post via email and can not view Jane Minty’s video, click here).

And the event is much more than just competitive cart running. Drinking liberally at every stop is encouraged and many cross the finish line quite inebriated. Many also start the race in the same shape.

Teams are encouraged to do their creative best, evade arrest, bribe event officials (an award category), etc. In addition to the Best Bribes award there are also awards for Best in Show, Best Sabotage of other teams, Best Pysche Out, Best Story of Cart Acquisition, you get the idea.

It’s an anything-goes race fairly well summed up in the official rules: “The Committee has sole discretion over all points awarded or deducted, prizes awarded, which prizes are being awarded, race rules, all laws of physics, what time it is, and what happened in the past, all of which are subject to change without notice.”

Jim Ferri