(Photo: Scott Lynch)
For eleven years now teams of be-costumed Idiots have gone out in the middle of winter, grabbed hold of their tricked-out shopping cart, and gone tearing through the streets of Brooklyn in a manic, often-drunken race for fame, glory, cool-looking trophies and, just maybe, a handful of cold, hard cash.
The Idiotarod was back on Saturday, this year mostly taking place in Prospect Heights, Park Slope, and Gowanus, and as big or even bigger than ever with twenty teams vying for the coveted top awards. The big turnout this year was a bit surprising considering the dreary weather forecast, but thankfully for everyone the rain stopped for the day right before the race’s start at 12:30pm from underneath the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Arch in Grand Army Plaza.
(Photo: Scott Lynch)
As you can tell from the photographs, the Idiotarod is part bar crawl (with multiple games of “skill” and inane tasks required to be completed at each stop), part actual race (with a long tradition of sabotage and cheating), part creativity contest (the judges solicit–and receive–bribes throughout), and pretty much full-on fun for about eight hours straight. And then at the after party, held again at Gowanus Ballroom, all the carts were crushed without mercy.
Oh, and this year’s Grand Prize winner was Team Don Quixote, with the Skull Eaters getting the nod for Best Industrial Design, and Team Showtime on the Z Train also winning something big and important. Sorry, but details tend to get a bit murky at the end of an Idiotarod.
Click through our slideshow.
And some videos of the carts being destroyed.
