Monday, March 10, 2008

The Amazing Race comes to Charlotte

My friends over at Eye decided it might be fun to enter a team into The Amazing Race bar crawl over the weekend, and being the resident party girl, I couldn't say no.


I'll admit I was a jaded party girl going into it. I mean, you've been on one bar crawl, you've been on them all, am I right?

But once we walked into Brixx uptown Saturday afternoon, it was hard not to get into it.

Teams that had started earlier in the day filled booths and lined the bar, awaiting race results updated regularly on TV screens. Teams that just started were running out the door with their first clue in hand.

My Eye teammates and I clearly looked like rookies compared to the teams who had coordinated outfits right down to the sweatbands and sunglasses.

We were thrown right into the race at the door as we were handed a "passport" and lined up Family Feud style for our first of seven challenges.

As we completed the challenge, we were given a clue to the next bar and this continued through: Coyote Ugly (where we failed miserably at Sudoku), Corner Pub, Cans, Hom, Therapy, Alley Cat and back to Brixx.

My favorite challenge? Doing my best (PG-rated) Pee-Wee Herman imitation at Cans.


(These girls kicked our butts.)


(An action shot of Team Eye.)

It turned into a really fun day and Team Eye will be back with a vengeance next year. Our only complaint (and I realize the bars have to make money, too) was that each team member was required to have an alcoholic drink before participating in each challenge. What about people who don't drink? And for people who do, that's asking to have seven drinks in less than two hours. Not exactly safe.

The crawl, in its fourth year, benefitted the Regional AIDS Interfaith Network and the turnout was a huge success. Nearly 60 teams (mostly teams of five) showed up and RAIN raised about $7,500, according to organizer Nathan Smith.

Did you know? AIDS is the second leading cause of death for adults ages 25-42 in Mecklenburg County.
For more pics, go here.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

As I've said about 50 times now, where are the pictures of Sarah? Throw us a bone and put one out there now and then!

Anonymous said...

Christ, if you aren't on the payroll over at Cans, you should be.

Anonymous said...

wow--an already insipid blog reaches new lows...

Kristin said...

Just an FYI, the rules didn't necessarily specify that everyone had to drink...only that 5 drinks had to be consumed at each location. I was a guide this year and had a blast seeing all of the teams come through. I think I'll participate on the other side next year as everyone seemed to be having a lot of fun.