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Redemption in the Crescent City

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

The good times did indeed roll at the Second Annual Urban Challenge National Championships in New Orleans on November 15, 2003. Presented by Michelob Ultra, more than 225 teams from twenty-two cities across America traveled to the Big Easy to race for the $50,000 national prize purse. And, in the end, David Olds and Damian Garcia, the Fluffy Bunnies of Los Angeles, stood triumphant in front of 300 cheering racers and fans quaffing Michelob Ultra at the Fairmont Hotel just a stone's throw from the French Quarter.

With a winning time of 2:03 minutes, the Fluffy Bunnies crossed the finish line just moments before the 2002 champions John and Marcy Beard. After an excruciating review of their checkpoint photos and a short lesson for race organizers on the difference between radians and degrees, David and Damian found redemption as the 2003 National Champions. A little more than a year ago, David and Damian were one checkpoint away from the championship, but were eliminated for a wrong checkpoint photo. This year, the David Olds and Damian Garcia tore up two decidedly difficult Urban Challenge courses quickly and without error.

The Semifinals
The semifinals began at 7:30 am with tough trivia in the Blue Room of the Fairmont Hotel. After scoring and staging, the Urban Challenge staff introduced the racers to the first twist of the day: the clue batons were a half-mile from the start of the race. To blunt the advantage of ground support, racers were required to sprint to Café Pontalba, the finish line for the semi-finals, to pick up checkpoint clue batons and begin their adventure.

And what an adventure! The semi-final clues were filled with tough trivia and anagrams, including a checkpoint name hidden inside a coded version of Jabberwocky, the Patented Wacky Equation, and an old Atari Game. To further discourage ground support and team following, racers were treated to eight different versions of the clue sheet leading teams to as many as five different checkpoints during the race.

2002 Magnificent Seven racers, Jeff Courtney and Jake Atkinson, affectionately known as the Pink Flamingos, were first across the line in the semifinals but went down to elimination on Checkpoint 12. "We're renaming our team ‘Checkpoint 12'," joked Jeff after the race, an obvious reference to the 2002 Finals in which the Pink Flamingos were first across the line in the Finals, but went down to elimination on a different Checkpoint 12. In all, six of the top ten finishers went down to elimination in the semifinals for wrong checkpoint photos.

The Finals
Four of the 2003 Magnificent Seven were returning racers from the 2002 Magnificent Seven: David Olds and Damian Garcia, Justin and Charlie Graham, John and Marcy Beard, Terrence and Catherine Lee. Joining the elite of Urban Challenge in 2003 were Scott Smallwood and William Healy, Elsie Huang and Jeremy Scott Barber, and David Landreth and Mike Whitcombe.

The finals began within the showplace of tomb architecture also known as the Metairie Cemetery. The first four checkpoints were tombs inside the cemetery. To prevent teams from following each other, seven different versions of the clue sheet were in play for the finals. Once out of the cemetery, the Magnificent Seven raced to City Park and then right into the middle of the Awards party at the Fairmont. An Urban Challenge first, Checkpoint 7 was actually a person at the party and each team was looking for a completely different person. As racers searched the sea of faces for the one they needed, party goers attempted to understand what was happening and spontaneously began offering their assistance. Unbeknownst to the teams, the Skip Person was also at the party and each team was looking for a different Skip person.

Scott Smallwood of Washington DC attempted to cut through the crowd by snatching the microphone and pleading, "Will the Skip Person please report to the front of the room." Unfortunately for Scott, his Skip had no idea that he was a Skip Person for Scott's team.

The Grahams were first to the party in the ballroom in search of Checkpoint 7, but bolted before finding the Skip Person. The Fluffy Bunnies were actually the third team to reach Checkpoint 7, but found the Skip Person as well. And that was the difference. While the Grahams tried unsuccessfully to crack the code in Checkpoint 10, David and Damien skipped past Checkpoint 10 altogether and sprinted to victory.

Reflecting on his team's experience, David had this to say:

"I am in awe of the combined skills and intelligence of the competition in the finals…. But more, I am in awe of the genuine good spirit and sportsmanship that all of the finals teams exhibit. … The true class that all of the Magnificent 7 have shown in the last two years is, for me, an example of what competition should be, and it flies in the face of a lot of what we see in the papers and on TV, things that have made it so that competition is a dirty word in much of our culture. It is refreshing to feel that UC finals rise above that."

Urban Challenge thanks Monica from the National Prostate Cancer Coalition for acting as our Semifinals Skip Person, Jerry Peters of Southern Eagle Distributing, distributors of Michelob Ultra, and the city of New Orleans. Geoff and Brian thank the good people at Coop's Place, who fed them exclusively during their stay.

Be sure to check out all the trivia, clues, and results.

You'll also be interested in our article in the Times-Picayune, "They have cameras and cell phones, and a single goal." Read the article »