Congratulations to the nearly 550 racers that participated in the third Great Urban Race Madison! The sun was shining, the costumes were outstanding, and we had an awesome time!

Participants navigated the streets of Madtown and completed 12 challenges.  Along the way, racers twirled pizza dough at Ian’s Pizza By the Slice, shot ping pong balls into fishbowls at Wando’s, learned how to juggle with the Madison Area Jugglers, answered questions about a goofy movie at Sconnie Nation, ate hot peppers at Texas Tubb’s Taco Palace, played an improv game with the Monkey Business Institute crew, played dizzy bat at Tenney Park, and many more fun challenges! 

A special thanks to everyone who donated dog and cat food and toys to the Dane County Humane Society.  They truly appreciated all of your donations and had barrels overflowing with food! Racers left with some sweet temporary tattoos as well!

Jessica and Dan Murphy of Dajoro? came bolting through the finish line in an astounding time of 1:57!  Great race guys!  The A Team crossed the finish at 2:09, followed by Merry Ithsmus at 2:24 to round out our Top Three.

Team Veggie was our Top Family Team, crossing the finish line at 2:54 and also finishing in the Top 25!  Great job!

After a two-time clap off, The Wisco Gladiators stole the costume contest, but with tough competition from the Super Animals!  Thanks to
everyone who dressed in costume and added to the spirit of the day!

A huge round of applause to our St. Jude Top Fundraiser team, Brought to You By the Letter W, for raising $1,200!  Great job to Bucky’s Babes, our St. Jude Challenge winners, who were the first to fly through the finish line in their Heroes capes.  Many thanks to all of our Madison St. Jude Heroes for raising a total of $4,490!

Many thanks to our amazing volunteers from St. Jude, Essen Haus, all of our clue locations, and all of our participants.  The GUR crew had an amazing time in Madison and we look forward to returning in 2011!

Champion Interview:
(with Dan and Jessica Murphy of Dajoro?)

Have you ever participated in a GUR before?  Jessica came in 6th last year with another teammate; 15th at Nationals in New Orleans. This is Dan’s first GUR- very fun!

How did you prepare for the race?  Prepare? Hmmm….

What was your overall race strategy?  Work with friends to solve the clues, map out run and GO! Make sure you have an awesome phone support.

Did anything go wrong during the race?  Lost all our change when zippers on fanny pack were open chasing down a bus. No clues lost, though!

What was your favorite clue?  Pizza toss- god 1st toss, but then put a hole through it on the 2nd toss and almost hit an innocent diner.

What was the most memorable part of the day?  Watching my brother-in-law (another GUR participant) tossing his jalapeno!

Any secrets to your success… that you’d be willing to share?  Work with other to
Quickly solve the clues (before starting).

2010 Event Results:

(posted below)

** denotes team qualified to the National Championship and recieves free entry

*denotes team qualified for the Nationa Championship

^ denotes team competed in the Family Division

# denotes team received a penalty

!! denotes team member competed as a St. Jude Hero

DNF denotes team did not finish by 5:00 PM