'Urban Challenge' offers $50,000 lure

By ALINE McKENZIE Staff Writer

It started with a scavenger hunt at a child's birthday and has grown into a multicity search that will end with a $50,000 prize.

It's the " Urban Challenge ," a high-tech race through various cities that will come to Dallas on Sept. 28.

Competitors, in teams of two, will get a list of clues that will take them throughout the city in search of checkpoints. As they visit each checkpoint - in the correct order - they photograph themselves as documentation.

The first team back wins.

"We're trying to create a visually stimulating course through the city," says creator Kevin McCarthy of Phoenix.

That's the basics of it. But there's a lot more to keep a team hopping.

"I've been living all summer on this," Mr. McCarthy says. "This is my passion, this is my life."

The race begins at 8:30 a.m. at Campisi's Downtown, 1520 Elm. Competitors start with a trivia contest; teams with higher scores get to leave earlier than the lower-scoring counterparts. This can make as much as a 30-minute difference in a team's time.

Competitors are given digital cameras for the race, so they can record their progress. The camera also proves that teams went to the checkpoints in the correct order.

Other high-tech gizmos teams may want to take along are cellphones, because they can call friends for help with clues. There's also a "skip man," a person along the way who, if found by a team, can be photographed in order to skip one of the checkpoints.

The clues are set up so that competitors don't necessarily have to know much about the city, Mr. McCarthy says. They can be plaques, street intersections, restaurants and so on.

The only modes of transportation allowed are feet and public transit.

"DART's pretty good, though," Mr. McCarthy says. Competitors are encouraged to carry city maps, bus schedules, water, snacks, etc.

Registration is $65 per person until two weeks before the event, then $75 per person until the event day. On-site registration is $100 per person.

Top prize is airfare to Las Vegas, plus two nights' double occupancy in a hotel, plus free registration ($500) for the Las Vegas Urban Challenge Championships. Second prize is double occupancy and free entry, while the next eight teams get free entry to the championships.

Mr. McCarthy, who owns two remodeling and renovation businesses, says he hopes to bring the event to television as a Survivor type of competition.

In Dallas, part of the proceedings will go to the Mike Modano Foundation, which helps abused and neglected children.