CHIDITAROD!

Chiditarod 2008
March 1st

It was a balmy 35º day in Chicago, a day to get outdoors and enjoy the nice weather. What better way to do that than doll up an old shopping cart and race through the streets of the city collecting food donations for Chicago's Burners Without Borders. I can’t say that there is any better way than the Chiditarod.

Starting from an icy, muddy Wicker Park parking lot 83 teams of Chiditarod racers gathered for a day of chaotic racing, insane fun and a good cause. The annual Chicago Chiditarod is an event held by the people at Chiditarod.org, and this was the third year of the race. Easily double in size from previous years, the charity event apparently started in New York and just fizzled out there. Chicago’s event keeps going strong, bringing out a wide variety of people wanting to show off their shopping cart racing skills to collect food for Burners Without Borders. The event also involves spectator participation, as you are encouraged to collect food from supporters standing by, or running along with the race.

When I first arrived, I saw what appeared to be a logistical nightmare unfolding before my eyes. Vikings, Pirates (a lot of Vikings and Pirates), Pac-men, Knights of Camelot, Baseball Furies, Mario Brothers, Where the Wild Things Are, Pilots, and Ninjas among others. 83 teams consisting of an average of 3 to 5 people each in costumes ranging from utilitarian to elaborately awkward trying to squeeze onto a small lot covered with ice and mud. One police officer, arriving unprepared for the mass of people spilling out into the street trying to keep order (shortly followed by a more prepared police presence). Megaphones and brass bands struggling for attention in the wild roars of excited racers and spectators.

Due to the size of the race, it was arranged in 15-minute heats, so as not to totally shut down Damen Avenue and the racers were instructed to stay on the sidewalk. I strapped my video camera to my bike (video to follow) with some electric tape and followed along once the race was underway. The sidewalk rule was quickly broken by scores of racers eager to get off the icy narrow path. Most teams had plenty of beverages aboard their carts, but were told that there were no alcoholic beverages allowed (wink wink) between checkpoints. There were six checkpoints between the start and finish, all of which are bars, so plenty of drinking was going on between panting and sabotaging other teams carts as the race wound south through the city.

Sabotage (aside from being one of the many team names), seems to be a main part of the game. Everything from ambushing other teams, to having random spectators slow them down (one bicyclist riding slowly in front of a team was tackled of the bike by a clown) and even race moderators duct taping the wheels of a cart while the team left their cart unattended at a checkpoint. Of course there were also penalties for certain sabotage, or rule breaking (I honestly don’t know what the rules even were), such as having to chug a bottle of maple syrup, etc.

Throughout the race, there were plenty of wipe-outs due to course conditions, sabotage and general drunkenness. A lot of people (including myself) were almost hit by cars while trying to zip across the road to or from checkpoints. Any that I saw, ended in hilarity rather than tragedy (to my knowledge everyone came out of the race unscathed).

The finish line was at the Cobra Lounge on Ashland and Fulton. As the racers came in they gathered inn the parking lot to await the judges (which I think were the local band Environmental Encroachment). While waiting for all the racers to come in, an spontaneous snowball fight erupted, which seemed to involve the Baseball Furies, and Where the Wild Things Are teams, pitted against the anyone in the path of their trajectories. The snowball fight closed out with the robot from Presents for Jesus walking into the fray and having his head knocked off in a battery of snowballs.

A barrage of bloggers, journalists and even NPR Alaska (apparently “Alaska has an interest in the event”) were standing at the finish gathering information as the temperature dropped. After being outside for most of the day, I decided to hand out the remainder of my food donations to the first few teams crossing the finish line, and head inside to warm up and party.
After a set by Environmental Encroachment, in an insanely crowded Cobra Lounge prizes were awarded in the hubbub of the party. The prizes were awarded for such things as Best Cart, Last to Finish, Most Food Collected, and the usual suspects of most fun events. I honestly can’t remember which prize went to whom at this point; as riding between checkpoints and finish line had liquored my memory clear away. I do know that this was some of the most fun I’ve had in a while, and I will be running in this race next year with a team if I have anything to say about it.
Learn more about the Chiditaod at Chiditarod.org.

3/4/08 Update, as has been requested, I am adding a few links to other ___tarod (shopping cart) races for those who have sent me them.
Elgoatarod, in Eldorado Texas via Miranda
Idiotarod, in Brooklyn New York via Brizmo
Methods Reporter's coverage of the Chiditarod (Co-Inhabitants of the Chicago Blogosphere) via Bret