Clues lead to landmarks

Urban Challenge Contestants Seek Point in Raleigh; Winners Advance to Vegas

by Jean P. Fisher

About 70 runners laced up their shoes and pulled out their cell phones for an unusual traipse through downtown Raleigh early Saturday: a combination footrace and scavenger hunt that demanded both quick feet and sharp wits.

The object: Find a dozen Raleigh landmarks, using only a tip sheet of clues and help from passersby or Internet-surfing friends. Teams of two ran or, if they could work it, took public transportation from spot to spot. Driving was off limits. The first 10 teams to correctly complete the " Urban Challenge " qualified to compete in Las Vegas against winning teams from across the country for a $50,000 grand prize.

Matt Willoughby of Cary pulled out his mobile phone to call for help with a clue that directed him and his wife, Lauren, to find a building that shares a name with a Humphrey Bogart film character.

Grandma came up with the movie, "Treasure of the Sierra Madre," and the character's name, Fred Dobbs. Then a call to Matt's father, who works in downtown Raleigh, helped the two make the connection to the Dobbs Building, near the General Assembly. The couple whipped out the digital camera issued to them at the beginning of the race and snapped their picture to prove they'd found the right place.

"Are you going to be home all morning, Dad?" said Matt. "Is Mom there?"

"Tell them we need their help," Lauren chimed in. "Tell them we'll take them to dinner."

Ultimately, it was tech support, not city savvy, that won the game. The top team, which won with a time of three hours and nine minutes, wasn't even from North Carolina.

Jonathan Brenner, a medical student from New York, and Erik Carpenter, a fingerprint analyst for the Federal Bureau of Investigation who lives in Washington, D.C., said it was their command center of friends back in the nation's capital that helped them hit the targets. Three pals in D.C. set up a "war room" with fast Internet connections and wall maps of Raleigh. Brenner and Carpenter faxed the clue list first thing and waited for their cell phone to ring with instructions.

They successfully found the Mecca Restaurant, the smallest park in Historic Oakwood, and a chemistry-book-toting statue on the campus of N.C. State University, among other stops.

"We don't know a single thing about Raleigh," said Brenner, who raced in Urban Challenge 's New York event with Carpenter last weekend.

The team didn't have the help they needed to decipher the New York clues , and ended up not finishing. As winners of the Raleigh race, they'll travel to Las Vegas at Urban Challenge 's expense. The nine other qualifiers will have to pay their own way if they want to compete for the grand prize on Nov. 2.

"The key this time was to have that support," said Brenner, dripping with sweat after running in the day's record 100-degree heat. "They were doing all the work. We were just bodies running."

The five friends each chipped in to cover the $150 registration fee and they'll all share in the prize if Brenner and Carpenter hit the jackpot in Las Vegas.

Kevin McCarthy, the Phoenix entrepreneur who invented Urban Challenge , initially cooked the game up as a diversion for guests who attended his daughter Katie's 12th birthday party in October. It was a hit with both parents and kids, who crisscrossed Phoenix following clues .

McCarthy, who owns cabinetry and home renovations businesses in Phoenix, saw the potential for something bigger and parlayed it into a 21-city tour. In some cities, as many as 300 people have turned out. Eventually, he hopes a reality television show -- sort of "Survivor" crossed with "Jeopardy" -- that follows the race city to city and culminates with the final event, will follow.

"We want it to be the premiere brain and brawn event in America," McCarthy said.