Anyone doing them in San Antonio, Austin, or Dallas?

www.urbanassaultrace.com/boomboom.html

TxTarpon,

Have you participated in one of these races before? If so, any feedback about them.

I have not, but they look fun.
Texas Bicycle Coalition puts them on so it should be pretty family oriented.
I want to do at least the one in San Antonio.

My friend and I are going to participate in the Dallas race. Looking forward to it - looks fun. Thanks for posting the info.

Okay, tell me how the race in San Antonio had gone for you and your teammate? Was it fun? What were the obstacle courses? Any info you want to share about the race?

Less than three weeks til the race in Dallas.

I had to WORK all weekend!
But the write up in the Express News was GREAT!
It sounds like a BLAST!
Hope you enjoy.


Urban Assault Race goes heavy on fun
Web Posted: 05/02/2005 12:00 AM CDT

Hernán Rozemberg
Express-News Staff Writer

Chomp on a frozen popsicle, down 6 ounces of jalapeños, figure out how to do a girth-hitch rope knot and, just for kicks, drag two tractor-size tires around the block — you're just getting started.

It was how 128 people decided to have fun early Sunday morning.

The odd-sounding activities were part of the 10 "checkpoints" that competitors in an unusual bike competition had to successfully clear before returning to Maverick Park on Broadway, where San Antonio's first Urban Assault Race had started hours earlier.

There was running, but it wasn't a road race. And sure, team participants shuttled around 20 miles of the city on bicycles, but this was no mere bike race. Call it a cross between adventure race and treasure hunt, with prizes and all, open to anybody 7 to 100 years old.

Though competitive, most participants weren't after the $500 first-place prize or the two-year free lease on a car for the team with the best results compiled from all three races in the series, which included Austin and Dallas.

"It was great. Very fun, very cool, very unique," said Laura Tift of Boerne, who teamed with her husband, Kevin. "I want to get all my friends to do it next year."

While much of San Antonio still slept, the 64 two-person teams lined up at North Alamo and 10th streets. When the race started at 8:30 a.m., bikers scattered in all directions, some riding on the streets, others using sidewalks.

They did have a common goal: Be the first ones to return to the park with a necklace bearing 10 red beads — one collected at each of the checkpoints, which presented a variety of physical and mental challenges.

Riders, who paid a $120 team entry fee, had to abide by traffic regulations or face disqualification. Riding on Broadway was forbidden, though many of the stops were on that street.

Participants had plenty of time to find the checkpoint locations before the race, so they could use a map to strategize their itinerary.

But they didn't have a clue as to what awaited them at the stations.

One of the wackiest stops was in front of The Original Coco's ice cream shop in Alamo Heights, home to two checkpoints.

At one, racers had to lie down and eat a Popsicle that dangled from a string held by their partners, who wore swimming goggles spray-painted to make them opaque.

Many a case of "brain freeze" was diagnosed here, but there was no time to waste. After participants finished, they had to rush to a race volunteer, who handed them a grapefruit. The teammates then had to balance the fruit between their necks — hands behind their backs — and circle the parking lot without dropping it.

Many were forced to take a five-minute penalty at the Quarry checkpoint, which required them to come up with three types of knots solely by looking at already-tied ropes.

"Yeah! Thank God for the Boys Scouts!" one racer shouted, giving his race partner a high-five as his workmanship won approval of the knot-checker.

Though having a good time was the main objective, it was still a competition — one that didn't go by without a small controversy.

They had to accept the organizer's call, but identical twins Benjamin and Luke Magilke, 29, of Houston, would have liked to return home with $500 in their pockets. Their 1-hour, 52-minute first-place finish was stripped because of a penalty that was supposed to have been applied at the first checkpoint but wasn't. The change gave victory to husband-and-wife team Noel and Leslie Reuter of Austin.

Still, for a first-time event, organizer Josh Kravetz of Austin was happy with how it turned out.

"It's about racing but having fun — making older folks feel like kids again," he said.
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hrozemberg@express-news.net

The photos from the San Antonio race are up. The link and directions are in their forum page.