I suppose some sucking up is in order. Our team, The Angelenos (Rico and fridayinla), came in third place in the CityRace/LA Urban Adventure: 12 points behind team Downtown Dwellers (Sha, Eric, Phil, and Chris) and one point behind mystery team Runners on Empty.

UPDATE: It seems we didn’t come in third place after all! Apparently the CityRace officials reworked the scoring and found that The Angelenos (Rich and Stephen) came in Second Place, a mere seven points behind the Downtown Dwellers (Sha, Eric, Phil and Chris).

CityRace/LA combines history, riddles, clues, and scavenger hunt items that challenge even the most knowledgeable Downtown dwellers. There were 17 teams of two to four persons competing for the Grand Prize.

I can’t give any specific information about the race since the October 20th event is going to use the same questions and have the same boundaries and rules, but here’s some advice for anyone participating in the October 20th CityRace/LA adventure: Make sure your written answer correctly answers the question posed to you. Hint: Bring an iPhone or BlackBerry if you have one; it’s really helpful! If you don’t have one, bring someone who does, or just prepare to make a trip or two out of the way for Internet access.

There was much friendly pregame ribbing at Arda’s Cafe on Sixth Street for breakfast, and after the race was over, The Angelenos and Downtown Dwellers went over to Pitfire Pizza for a postgame celebratory lunch.

We expected terms of surrender; instead, we got sarcasm.
Left-to-right: Stephen (The Angelenos); Eric (Downtown Dwellers);
Phil (Downtown Dwellers); Chris (Downtown Dwellers); and Rich (The Angelenos)

All-in-all, it was a great day to be out having fun in Downtown. The weather was mostly cool and calm until just over halfway through, when the clouds just let us have it. We got soaked, but it only lasted ten minutes, and all the running around Downtown let us dry off. I’m pretty damn proud of our showing, and believe me, next year will be a rematch of epic proportions, especially considering our second-place finish! We got to meet some great people as well.

I’ve received photos of the winning team showing off their medals, and I begrudgingly link to them here. In seriousness, though, they were in fine form and deserved first place. They won medals (and wore them all day), t-shirts, a gift certificate for tea at the Biltmore, and heavy gloating rights!

Thanks, also, to my teammate and co-blogger Stephen Friday, who let me know about this little event and was indispensable in our good showing.

If you haven’t signed up for the October 20th event, I’d highly recommend it as a great way to explore the city — and Downtown in particular. Space is limited, so act quickly.