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Phoenixville’s 4th of July celebration to feature the Philadelphia Area Idiotarod

Phoenixville’s Fourth of July celebration will feature a new race component with the addition of the Philadelphia Area Idiotarod. The Idiotarod is a take off on the 1,000 mile Iditarod dog sled race.

The Idiotarod features shopping carts sometimes modified for the team. Four “idiot” team members are tied to the cart, run along side of the cart and a “musher” guides the cart from the back. The race will have no course. There will be a number of stations located through the south side where the teams will be required to check-in. There will be special judges located in the race area who may disqualify teams that do not maintain continual shopping cart connection throughout the race. The team that completes the course in the best time without being disqualified or missing a station is the winner. The original race was run in San Francisco in 1994 and races are run in New York, Phoenix, Seattle and Toronto.

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Phoenixville’s Fourth of July celebration will feature a new race component with the addition of the Philadelphia Area Idiotarod. The Idiotarod is a take off on the 1,000 mile Iditarod dog sled race.

The Idiotarod features shopping carts sometimes modified for the team. Four “idiot” team members are tied to the cart, run along side of the cart and a “musher” guides the cart from the back. The race will have no course. There will be a number of stations located through the south side where the teams will be required to check-in. There will be special judges located in the race area who may disqualify teams that do not maintain continual shopping cart connection throughout the race. The team that completes the course in the best time without being disqualified or missing a station is the winner. The original race was run in San Francisco in 1994 and races are run in New York, Phoenix, Seattle and Toronto.

The committee will instruct the teams to stay on sidewalks as much as possible to avoid conflict with traffic. “All teams will not be going in the same direction so there should not be an over crowding problem on the sidewalks except maybe in the beginning. It should thin out pretty quickly as teams take different routs to their check in stations”, stated Barry Cassidy, race official.

Race official Kim Cooley will be accepting applications at the Phoenixville Regional Chamber of Commerce office located at 171 Bridge Street, in Phoenixville. “The race is open to anyone wanting to participate. People from outside the community are welcome to participate. There is an entry fee of $100.00 and the winning team will get half the money, the other half goes into the race promotion fund to ensure the race is well promoted in the future.”

The winners name will be engraved on a trophy, and a number of single year awards will be given out, which will be determined later.

The committee is seeking not only contestants to run in the race, but also residents to host a check in station in front of their home or business. There is also a need for race officials to help administer the race. Race Official Kim Colley will take phone inquiries and requests for credentials at 610-933-3070.

After the start of the race at 2 PM there will be live entertainment on the Main Stage area in the parking lot at Main and Bridge. As a fund raiser for the Main Street program there will be a beverage station in the Main and Bridge Parking lot. The bands Stone Groove and the Reluctants will play from 2 PM until 6 PM.

Fireworks are scheduled for Friday the 3rd for First Friday and will the committee will use the 4th 5th as a rain date.

Comments

Anonymous said…
sounds like wacky fun!
Julie said…
As usual I'm having a heck of a time finding out about the fireworks in this town.

Thanks for posting the date, but where do we go? (the borough website doesn't say)
N Garrett said…
where exactly are the fireworks shot off from. I may want to have a different vantage point to avoid crowds on Bridge st. Any suggestions other than 100 bridge. thanks.
fyi me and my family love the site it is an invaluable resource for all things phx
JW said…
Thanks for reading! Not 100% sure but last year they were set off on the steel site and I'd presume that's where they will do it again. If I hear otherwise I will be sure to update the site.
Anonymous said…
I can't seem to find any coverage of the results of the Idiotarod... Did it happen?
JW said…
The Idiotarod did take place and by all accounts was a success. The winning team was the Karate Kids I believe. Someone who participated on one of the other teams posted a comment on the Phoenix website. See http://www.phoenixvillenews.com/articles/2009/07/01/news/srv0000005700040.txt#blogcomments
Anonymous said…
I hope The Phoenix published the comment from the Idiotarod contestant. It's not the kind of event that I would enjoy, but it looks like other people enjoyed it and had a good time and I enjoy hearing about others having an enjoyable day.

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