This post appeared in a previous blog and is here for posterity’s sake.

the Idiotarod – Team Octopussy · see all of my photos from that day
What can you possibly say about The Idiotarod besides pure lunacy? This is the second year of the race that pits sled teams of five Human runners against each other – with shopping carts as sleds. A clear and sunny day greeted to the Idiots during the race registration while musicians serenaded the competitors. The course this year started at Old Fulton Ferry in Brooklyn, then proceeded over the Brooklyn Bridge, past two checkpoints, ending in Tompkins Square Park. The 70+ teams were encouraged to dress in costume, and many had fine livery with many supporters. The Idiotarod course isn’t closed and cleared of traffic, of course – and the cops didn’t know (or care) about the race. To add to the confusion, there were teams whose sole mission was sabotage other teams.
As the gun went off, over 70 teams raced up Old Fulton, a funnel-shaped street which rises and collapses into the Brooklyn Bridge. Thinking that standing upstream of the start in the middle of the street would allow for good photos, I positioned myself at the narrow end of the funnel. Now, everyone has seen video of the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona? Everyone secretly hopes someone will get horned – not seriously, but enough to make the trip worth it (who runs ahead of bulls?). Well imagine that scene but with 350+ competitors racing toward you, with the same amount of onlookers (sans white jacket and beret) running with the Idiots. I didn’t know if I was going to get tripped or clothes-lined by racers tied to their shopping carts. It was maddness. As the first wave passed, I had no choice but to run up hill with the Idiots. The race had begun.
The main pedestrian entrance to the bridge was instantly clogged by the saboteurs and by the fact that trying to get a shopping cart up a four foot wide stair was near impossible for many teams with extra-wide shopping carts. For those teams with wide loads, the only course of action was to go around to the main pedestrian entrance, then backtrack; their race was over within the first five minutes. Competing only for pride and perhaps liquid refreshment, these teams nonetheless continued on.
The first checkpoint was on Chambers & West Broadway in Lower Manhattan. Imagine 700 or so people, half of them in costume, milling around an intersection in Lower Manhattan. The police had no idea what was going on; motorists were agitated, pleading with the police to do something – the police just laughed and ask exactly what the motorists wanted them to do with a giant octopus on a shopping cart? Teams had to wait 20 minutes after they entered the checkpoint; at this point what had been a stream of Idiots racing together became a field of costume-donned teams strung out all around Lower Manhattan. There was no set course to the next checkpoint at Clinton & Stanton – some teams chose to go through Chinatown; while others chose to race against traffic on Broadway. Knowledge of traffic and orienteering – both pedestrian and motor – was a skill that many teams lacked. I followed two teams as they chose to brave Canal Street on a Saturday. Residents of New Jersey and Connecticut proved to be major impediments to those team’s progress.
Finally, as teams made their way in the Lower East Side toward Tompkins Square Park, their last hurdle would be faced at the corner of 7th Street and Avenue B. The Snowmen, who had so artfully blocked the Brooklyn Bridge Pedestrian Stair, were entrenched at the corner of the park. With the park in plain view, and victory in hand, the Idiots had to brave ice-balls, snow and vehicles as they made the sharp left-hand turn into the home stretch. Many a snow crystal was thrown, and blood was drawn; a sight that no Idiot would like to see. The crowd was rife with anticipation of the incoming wave of Idiots, and everyone was in high spirits.
But in the end, someone did win, but who cares? Idiots ruled the city for the day. An hour or so later, the police finally showed up at Tompkins Square, but all they found was a pile of shopping carts. The Idiots were gone. But here are my photos from the day.
For more photos, see Gothamist’s write-up, Callalillie, Rion, Bluejake, Untitled Name and all photos on Flickr with the tag Idiotarod.