New Expanded Schedule

We've had such a great year so far, that we've decided to add several new races.

We're returning to New York, Boston and Philadelphia. Urban Dare Seattle will be on October 6. And we've added December races in New Orleans, Miami and Tampa.

There will be a $15 rebate for anyone registering who has already participated in any Urban Dare this year. I appreciate your business, and I want you back.

Here is the new expanded schedule:

Jun 9 Chicago
Jul 14 Boston
Aug 18 Rehoboth Beach
Aug 25 Los Angeles
Sep 15 Energy Club Dare
Sep 22 San Diego
Sep 29 San Francisco
Oct 6 Seattle
Oct 13 New York
Oct 20 Philadelphia
Nov 3 San Antonio
Nov 10 Tempe
Nov 17 Orlando
Dec 1 New Orleans
Dec 8 Miami
Dec 15 Tampa

The September 15 Energy Club Fitness Dare (in Arlington, VA) will have a different format than a regular Urban Dare, but it will still be 2-person teams competing. The Energy Club Dare will have a defined course. You will not have to solve clues to find checkpoints, as they will be marked along the course. There will be 12 or so checkpoints where racers will have to perform fitness challenges or Urban Dare type dares. Think of it as a five mile obstacle course that will test you physically and mentally.

Take the dare!

I guess I won't be home very much this year.

Greetings from Chicago, where I am preparing for the next Urban Dare to be run on June 9. After doing races four weekends in a row, I have to admit to being a little fatigued. I might even take a few days off next week.

The great feedback I'm getting from racers and a recent spate of good press clips make all this hard work worthwhile. Here are a few articles which will give you some insights into Urban Dare:

Surviving Urban Dare - April 28, 2007 - The Phoenix

Wacky Race - Patriot Ledger

Urban Scavenger Hunt Calls for Speed, Skill and Gadget Know-how - Wired

Test Your Know-How - If You Dare! - Washington Post

Thing 27 - Urban Dare DC - DC365

Don't worry, I'll still have some surprises in store for you.

See you at the races.

The Cutest Pyramid

This shot, submitted by Steven Schulze and Jen Poweska, wins for cutest pyramid. The one below is still the coolest.

The Pyramid - NY Style

Wow! Is that a pyramid, or is that a pyramid?

That's what I call doing it up New York style.

Cathy Breniser & Tracy Reckner of the Purse Divas reached into their purses and forked over $10 to set up this shot. I consider it $10 well spent.

One other team had the same shot. I don't know if they split the cost, or just saw a good opportunity. Either way, it's all good.

I love this shot!

Urban Dare NY Top Five Finishers

Thank you to everyone who helped make Urban Dare NY a big success.

Pictured are William & Beau Benton, the winners of Urban Dare NY with a time of 2:36:22. They said they learned a few things from last year's race, where they finished in second place.

Lester Santos & Andrew Maldonado finished in second place, followed by Tar Devil, and I double dog dare you (I should have made them eat hot dogs instead of pretzels).

Los Fabulosos Gramaticos, winners of Urban Dare Philadelphia, appeared to have taken third place, but were missing their pyramid picture and they didn't eat their pretzels. They went back out and still managed to get back in time to finish fifth.

The toughest photo of the day proved to be getting a picture of a human pyramid - 3,2,1. 6 or 7 teams failed to get it. All in all, it was a good day all around.

Here are the top 5 finishers:

2:36:22 William Benton & Beau Benton - Kiss my Blarney Stone
3:06:01 Lester Santos & Andrew Maldonado - Corporal Captains
3:13:30 Robert Swennes & AK Clemmons - Tar Devil
3:35:14 Stephen Anania & Heather Muterspaw - I double dog dare you
3:36:43 Bryant Palmer & Ann Ritter - Los Gramaticos Fabulosos

Two big things are happening this year. Where we had races last year, the number of participants has doubled in each city. And more importantly, I'm having great fun. So much fun, in fact, that I'm planning on coming back this year to the East Coast Extravaganza cities. We'll be updating the schedule soon.

This Saturday - Urban Dare NY

Urban Dare NY starts this Saturday, May 12 at noon at Washington Square Park. Check-in begins at 11:15. Look for us in the light blue shirts.

Pictured are Bryant Palmer and Ann Ritter, winners of Urban Dare Philadelphia, who are racing in this week's New York race.

Check out Wacky Race from The Patriot Ledger. It will give you a sense of what Urban Dare has in store for you.

Come join the fun! You can register all the way up to the start of the race, or click here to register now.

See you at the races.

Urban Dare Philadelphia Top 5 Finishers

I had so much fun with all of you at today's Urban Dare.

Congratulations to Bryant Palmer & Ann Ritter of Los Gramaticos Fabulosos who finished first with a time of 1:38:45. Watch out New York. They're also racing in next week's Urban Dare NY.

Coming in second place was last year's Philadelphia champion Ed Wagner with a new partner - Jordan Pascucci. Also breaking the 2 hour barrier were Go Girls! and MXC-Phil. And Run Jenny Run edged out Joe & Danielle Skelly of the Broken toenails by a mere three seconds to finish in fifth.

Here is the clue for Checkpoint 6, which came with the above picture:

As a gentile, I always get nervous when I go by this sign. Get your picture with it. Today’s the Sabbath, you’ll be safe.

It turns out, that it wasn't totally safe after all. The guy went nuts every time a team came by and took their picture in front of the sign. We were joking about making it a mandatory photo every year.

By far the favorite dare, was the chocolate covered strawberries in the Italian markets.

For some other cool Philly races, check out Ed Wagner's site at www.clubedventures.com.

Thank you to everyone who participated.

Here are the top five finishers:

1:38:45 Bryant Palmer & Ann Ritter - Los Gramaticos Fabulosos
1:45:49 Edward Wagner & Jordan Pascucci - clubedventures.com
1:49:08 Kirsty Halliday & Cheryl Martin - Go Girls!
1:55:19 Jenny Pierce & Kris Hall -MXC-Phil
2:03:54 Rob Wishnick & Ali Wishnick - Run Jenny Run

Change of venue for Urban Dare Philadelphia

Urban Dare Philadelphia will be starting at Schuylkill River Park.

Schuylkill River Park is located on the river just south of the Walnut Street Bridge. If you take Spruce to where it deadends at 26th Street it will put you at the park within sight of where we will be setting up.

See you at the race.

Urban Dare Boston Top Five Finishers

Wow! I really loved laying out this year's Urban Dare Boston.

After miserable weather forecasts, we had a mostly sunny day with no rains until about 4:30 when most racers were safely ensconced in the Sweetwater Cafe. Kudos and thank you to all who participated and congratulations to all finishers.

Pictured are Lydia Gregoret & Charles Wilson at the top of Bunker Hill Monument.

Race-day registrants Sean Jack & Chris Ancers signed up as Awesome, Inc. They lived up to their billing with a winning time of 1:55:12. They were the only team under 2 hours.

Donald Hess & Dave Young finished comfortably in second place in 2:12:26. The race for third place was where the real action was, as we had three teams all at the finish doing their puzzle dare at the same time. Ken DoRosario, a veteran UD Bostoner, and his sister Marguerite Reynolds finished ahead of Sig Fin Fen and the Brighton Bombers.

This clue was nicknamed the "I hate the race director" checkpoint:

"Go to Breed’s Hill for your upwardly mobile photo hunt. Oh yes, you must go all the way to the top of what sits atop this hill. Get your picture with the damaged cannon at the top."

For those of you not in the know, Bunker Hill Monument is what sits atop Breed's Hill. I climbed those 292 steps on Thursday and my calves were still sore from it on race day. You wanted a good challenge, right?

Speaking of not in the know, take a look at what's wrong with this clue:

"Honest Abe freed the slaves with his Gettysburg Address. Get your picture in front of the statue honoring this act."

Only one racer busted me on this clue. It was the Emancipation Proclamation that ended slavery. Luckily, everybody knew what I meant.

A special thanks to my nephews Joe & Tom, Ashley, Alejandra, and Chris for a superb job of running the checkpoints.

Here are the top 5 finishers:

1:55:12 Sean Jack & Chris Ancers - Awesome, Inc.
2:12:26 Donald Hess & Dave Young
2:20:33 Ken DoRosario & Marguerite Reynolds - DoRobourn
2:21:20 Leigh McKinley & Sean McKinley - Sig Fin Fen
2:23:33 Ted Tyson & Donna Tyson - Brighton Bombers

Urban Dare DC Top 6

Thank you to everyone who made Urban Dare DC 2007 a great success. It was our biggest race ever.

Congratulations to the Jolly Rogers, 2006 National Champions and 2006 DC Champions, for winning the 2007 Urban Dare DC in impressive fashion. Interestingly enough, they were the first team at only one checkpoint. Yes, you guessed it, the final one. Good navigation skills and figuring out what order to visit checkpoints makes a difference. Of course, Ty and Erik do a pretty good job running from point A to point B.

And major kudos to Jane Argentsinger and Emily Appleman for taking second place. I confess that one of the best parts of directing Urban Dare races is meeting beautiful, strong, fit, intelligent women. Sorry, Jolly Rogers, I'm going with the picture of myself with the top female team in the race. I know it's selfish and this shouldn't be about me, but I can't resist.

Francoise Galleto wrote a great report of her race experience on her blog at http://dc365.blogspot.com/2007/04/thing-27-urban-dare-dc.html. Thank you, Francoise.

One of the favorite dares of the whole race, was the Ode to Our Soldiers Dare. This was a suggested dare, that was sent to us. Keep the good ideas for dares coming. I'd tell you what the dare is, but you may face it in your next Urban Dare.

And we had one problematic dare - the American Meridian, where you had to stand with one foot in the Eastern Hemisphere and one foot in the Western Hemisphere. It turns out there is more than one historic meridian in town. I did not accept the photo given me by Trabue & Jennifer Bland, but it turns out they were right. I am reinstating their time, which makes them fourth place. I'm not bumping anyone, so the DC post will have a top 6.

Here are the top 6 finishers of Urban Dare DC:

2:10:00 Erik Carpenter & Ty Summers - Jolly Rogers
2:45:03 Jane Argentsinger & Emily Appleman
2:46:37 Erol Yayboke & Natalie Nelson - Erik Estrada Fan Club
2:48:52 Trabue Bland & Jennifer Bland
2:50:30 Jon Caley & Daniel White
2:51:00 Mary Allen & Tony Wallace - GW

And a big thank you to DailyCandy.com. I received 40 registrations and over 150 email sign ups in the last 24 hours before the race. Most of these were prompted from an email they sent out on Friday. I love DailyCandy.com.

Urban Dare DC this Saturday

Urban Dare DC will start on Saturday, April 21 at Noon at Pershing Square, just across from the Willard Hotel at 14th & E Sts NW. This is the same place we started last year. We will begin check in at 11:15 and there will be a short race briefing at 11:55. Come early if you have not yet registered.

Pictured are the Jolly Rogers, 2006 National Champions and 2006 Urban Dare DC Champions.

Urban Dare is the race where smarts can beat speed. Teams of 2 solve clues to find checkpoints where they must perform dares.

Check out Urban Dare at www.urbandare.com.

See you at the race.

Coming to the Alamo - Nov 3

Urban Dare Austin was so much fun that we're coming back to Texas this year.

Urban Dare San Antonio has been scheduled for Saturday, November 3. The race will begin downtown near where Peewee went to look for his bicycle.

Here I am pictured in front of the Alamo on my only trip ever to San Antonio. I was in the middle of riding my bicycle from San Diego to Key West a couple years ago.

I'm looking forward to seeing San Antonio again.

Urban Dare East Coast Extravaganza

On Saturday, April 21 we will be running Urban Dare DC. This is the first of four straight weekends of Urban Dare races.

Urban Dare Boston is April 28, Urban Dare Philadelphia is May 5, and Urban Dare NY is May 12.

I'll be zipping up and down the East Coast for the next 7 weeks getting ready for these races. I expect each of these races to be bigger than they were last year. We must be doing something right.

See you at the races.

Jocks in a Box

A few months back when a team signed up as Jocks in a Box, I wondered if they would come as advertised. Sure enough, they did.

Here they are pictured with a Habitat for Humanity House in a Box.

A special thanks to Andrew Bulloch and Brandon Langlinais for bringing costuming into play. It’s part of that special touch Austin puts on everything.

Urban Dare Austin Top Five

Thank you to everyone who made the first ever Urban Dare Austin a big success.

Pictured are Spencier Conklyn of Got Wheels and Kipley Fiebig & Jason Mittman of Vignette 2.

Check out Kip Fiebig's report on the race at http://www.kipley.com/uc/ud2007austinreport.html. It seems that Vignette 1, Vignette 2, and Got Wheels all compete together in adventure racing. 1st, 2nd and 4th place is not bad.

Way to go MasterBabes! You kept them from a sweep, but more importantly, you ran a great race.

I want to give a special thanks to Cathy Setzer for putting together and managing a terrific race.

Here are the top 5 finishers of Urban Dare Austin.

2:29:18 Kipley Fiebig & Jason Mittman – Vignette #2
2:33:18 Spencer Conklyn & Shawn Bostad – Got Wheels
2:34:58 Kristen Muennink & Cindy Present – MasterBabes
2:35:43 Marcy Beard & John Beard – Vignette #1
2:48:10 Jessica Dodge & Krystie Kirchmeyer - Chickens

We may be doing an Urban Dare San Antonio in the fall.

Urban Dare Austin

Urban Dare's 2007 season will finally begin this Saturday in Austin. Pictured is Cathy Setzer, the Race Director and mastermind of the Austin race.

Urban Dare Austin will start on Saturday, March 24 at Noon at Central Park. We’ll begin near the corner of 38th and Guadalupe. There is a parking lot on Guadalupe just north of 38th. We will do check in at 11:30. You may register on race day.

Urban Dare is the race where smarts can beat speed. Teams of 2 solve clues to find checkpoints where they must perform dares.

Participants must wear their Urban Dare t-shirt throughout the race. We'll get your shirts to you at the check-in. You should have a cell phone and a digital camera. Maps are also handy.

The Urban Dare start is unique. We will ask multiple choice trivia questions and you will move into A, B, C or D areas depending on your answer. Get a few answers correct and you are on your way. This gives us a staggered start, but we'll be through it quickly. You may not use your phones at this stage of the race.

Once you are out of the starting blocks, you will pick up your clue sheets and be on your way. You can call friends as much as you want for help on clues. For the checkpoints that mention a dare, you must check in with the Urban Dare official, accomplish your task, and get your passport stamped before moving on. On checkpoints that mention a photo, you must get a photo with both team members to show you were both there.

This is a team race. You must be together throughout the race. You may walk, run or use public transportation to get to checkpoints.

At checkpoints with dares, you must accomplish a task and get your passport stamped to move on to the next checkpoint. Dares range from throwing a bulls-eye, doing a climbing wall, completing a puzzle or eating something (things people like, not bugs).

We expect the winners will finish the race in less than 3 hours and most of you will finish under 4 hours. We are working to provide a fun-filled day for you, while providing some good challenges.

Check out Urban Dare at www.urbandare.com.

See you at the race.

New Urban Dare Video

Trivia Start Video

For those of you wondering how the Urban Dare Trivia Start works, check out this video from the 2006 Champions Race. You can expect a version of this that is a little less wet.

Getting Ready for Austin

I just came back from Austin, where we will kickoff the 2007 race season on Saturday, March 24.

I'm looking forward to it, because for the first time I will be competing in an Urban Dare. Now, all I have to do is find a partner.

It feels weird having someone else plan the race, but I know Cathy will put together a great race. I have turned the race kit over to her.

Instead of running around town putting together a race (a very cool way to spend a few days), my job was reduced to flyering. I owe apologies to Austin drivers for the design of our flyer. It turns out parking tickets come in canary yellow envelopes about the same size as the canary yellow Urban Dare flyers.

I didn't know. Sorry.

Make the Dare - Win a T-shirt!

We need your help creating Dares.

Please send us your best suggestion for the ultimate dare.

We want to have the coolest, the stupidest, the cleverest, the weirdest, the hardest, and the wackiest people tricks.

Bring it on!

If we use your dare, we will award you the coveted "I made the Dare!" t-shirt. Only 1 t-shirt given for each dare.

I'd like to begin the 2007 season with a brand new dare that one of you send in. Send your dare suggestion to kkeefe@urbandare.com.

See you at the races.