Part high-tech treasure hunt and part marathon, the Urban Challenge hit Washington this past weekend in its inaugural D.C. race. On Saturday, August 31, close to two-hundred, two-member teams were sent racing through the city, deciphering clues to find twelve unmarked checkpoints. The Washington race, which was the fifteenth city of a nineteen-city tour across the U.S., had the biggest turnout of the race season to date.

Close to 400 people gathered at the Front Page Bar and Grille near Dupont Circle to compete for a chance to go to Vegas and try their luck at winning $50,000 at the Urban Challenge National Championship in November.

Team members had five hours to break down clues, find checkpoints, and photograph themselves in front of the landmark using a digital camera. Start time was determined by a thirty-question trivia test. The teams with the best scores were lumped into groups of roughly twenty, told the rules, given the clues, and sent on their way. The group with the next-best scores followed two minutes later. Once on the road, teams used cell phones, maps, bus guides, or random people to help figure out the answers to the clues.

"The teams that were the most successful were the ones that set up a support system at home," says Kevin McCarthy, 40, who invented the game as a creative way to celebrate his daughter Kate's twelfth birthday last October. The first challenge was held in his hometown of Phoenix.

William Healy and his friend, Scott Smallwood, both of the D.C. area, were the first team back with all the correct landmarks photographed at a winning time of 3:04:00. They will be invited to Las Vegas, at the expense of Urban Challenge, to compete in the November Championship.

Top Three Teams

1st: 3:04:00, William Healy, Scott Smallwood

2nd: 3:08:00, Guy F Johnson, Chris Mackie

3rd: 3:30:00, Gerald Allan Schwinn, Rachel Posell

See additional photos of the Washington, DC Urban Challenge.