Idiotarod XXI

Dylan of Team Gimp My Ride during Idiotarod XXI on Saturday, January 27, 2024.

The starting location at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn, NY.

Team Suds 'N Buds

Getting Gasoline (a.k.a. Coors Light) at Hurts Gold Member cart

Two Idiotarod Judges drinking Gasoline at Hurts Gold Member cart

Team Hurts Gold Member

Team Gimp My Ride

Team Gimp My Ride

Team Loaf Gang

Team One Fell Scoop

Team Orcapy Whale Street

Team Orcapy Whale Street

Team Orcapy Whale Street

Team Orcapy Whale Street

Team Orcapy Whale Street

Erin with Team Gimp My Ride

Anney Fresh addressing the racers and revealing the location of the first checkpoint, 99Rogers

Team One Fell Scoop trying to exit with Team Suds 'N Buds blocking them by being a car wash in a sabotage attempt

Team Loaf Gang trying to exit but going through a spontaneous car wash via Team Suds 'N Buds

Team Gimp My Ride exiting Grand Army Plaza's Bailey Fountain

Team Traitor Joe's exiting Grand Army Plaza's Bailey Fountain

Team CARTapult CARTastrophe exiting Grand Army Plaza's Bailey Fountain

Team Hurts Gold Member heading to checkpoint 1

Team Orcapy Wall Street on their way to checkpoint 1

Team Cartapus on their way to checkpoint 1

Team Space Junk on their way to checkpoint 1

Team Space Junk

Team Space Junk

Team Space Junk

Team Space Junk

Team Clam's Casino on their way to checkpoint 1

Team Stoop Kids on their way to checkpoint 1

Team Dr. Who's Line Is It Anyways? on their way to checkpoint 1

Team Dr. Who's Line Is It Anyways?

Team Dr. Who's Line Is It Anyways?

Team Dr. Who's Line Is It Anyways?

A passerby asks a question to Team Stoop Kids

Team Dr. Who's Line Is It Anyways? pushes their cart in the street since it's too tall to pass underneath scaffolding

A person watches Team Dr. Who's Line Is It Anyways? pushing their cart back onto the sidewalk

Team Stoop Kids

A passerby films Team Stoop Kids walking to checkpoint 1...

...and wanted a photo

A delivery driver photographs Idiots moving to checkpoint 1

Anney Fresh helps the team members cross the street safely

Members of Team Gimp My Ride walking to checkpoint 1

A man got a hug from Cartpus and got an Octopus too.

A member of Dance Dance Revolutionaries outside checkpoint 1, 99Rogers

A woman observes Idiotarod from above

Anney Fresh outside 99Rogers

Hannah, one of the checkpoint 1 members outside the bar

Rody and Oriana

99Rogers became the Library of Nonsense

Lizzie

Colleen

Colleen

Checkpoint 1 offered people the opportunity to address postcards to Mayor Adams to restore budget cuts to NYC libraries

Checkpoint 1 offered people the opportunity to address postcards to Mayor Adams to restore budget cuts to NYC libraries

A member of Team Dance Dance Revolutionaries

A member of Team Space Junk

A member of Team Space Junk

A member of Team Space Junk

Team Hot Cucumber offered shots out of cucumbers

Team Hot Cucumber

Team Hot Cucumber

If someone spun Hurts Gold Member's wheel and landed on "Filthy Vehicle," a member of the team helped you get clean

Hurts Gold Member cart

A new Gold Member name gets added to the cart sign

Hurts Gold Member offered two vehicles: a compact and full size car

The full size car pours "water" into the compact car

Jaclyn of checkpoint 1 spins the Hurts Gold Member wheel

The wheel landed on "No Coverage"

Jaclyn gets "coverage"

Jaclyn borrows the compact car for up to 15 minutes.

Filling up with gasoline at the Hurts Gold Member cart

If you borrowed a car and wanted to listen to music via SiriusXM, that cost extra

Someone walking by makes an inquiry at the Hurts Gold Member cart

Checking out the luxury vehicle at Hurts Gold Member

A member of Hot Cucumber prepares a shot for Telfer

Telfer with his cucumber shot

Once the liquor is gone, you can eat the cucumber

A person walking by filming Idiotarod outside 99Rogers

Two members of Team Space Junk

Oriana by the Hot Cucumber cart

A member of Hot Cucumber admires Oriana's pin (which was a bribe from their team)

Heating up cucumbers at the Hot Cucumber cart

Members of two different teams should be enemies, but are friends IRL

Dylan of Team Gimp My Ride

The gimp is given to someone else...

Team Gimp My Ride

Team Gimp My Ride had their own drink, a Gimplet

Colleen and her glass of Gimplet

Someone waiting in line to be helped at Hurts Gold Member

Orcapy Whale Street moves on to checkpoint 2 at Wonderville

Team Gimp My Ride sabotages someone from another team

Team Windings Air heading to checkpoint 2

Team Windings Air heading to checkpoint 2

Team Windings Air heading to checkpoint 2

Team Windings Air heading to checkpoint 2

Cartapus heading to checkpoint 2

Traitor Joe's moving to checkpoint 2

CARTapult CARTastrophe heading to checkpoint 2

I do not have the words to describe what's happening here

Dance Dance Revolutionaries on the move to checkpoint 2

Clam's Casino moving to checkpoint 2

One Fell Scoop on the move to checkpoint 2

One Fell Scoop on the move to checkpoint 2

Hannah and Liz outside checkpoint 1

Mark and Stephanie, the owners of Wonderville (a.k.a. checkpoint 2)

Scott Lynch and Annie Fresh outside Wonderville

Members of Cartapus arrive at checkpoint 2

Members of Cartapus arrive at checkpoint 2

Members of Cartapus arrive at checkpoint 2

Orcapy Whale Street arrives at Wonderville

A member of Cartapus gives an octopus to a checkpoint 2 team member

CARTapult CARTastrophe arrives at checkpoint 2

Mark pets the head of Gimp My Ride's Jacob at the bar

An Orcapy Whale Street member enters the bar

Team Suds 'N Buds

Team Suds 'N Buds member blowing bubbles outside Wonderville

A checkpoint 2 team member playing Clam's Casino's game

Clam's Casino

Members of Team Dance Dance Revolutionaries outside checkpoint 2

Dance Dance Revolutionaries' disco cannon

A member of Team Gimp My Ride modified DDR's cannon

Hot Cucumber's arrival to checkpoint 2

A member of Dance Dance Revolutionaries

Stephanie samples a Gimplet

Stephanie also got in the GMR cart

Dylan of Gimp My Ride pours another Gimplet

A look inside the Dr. Who's Line Is It Anyways? cart

A member of checkpoint 2 sits in the Dr. Who's Line Is It Anyways? booth (cart)

The sign on the Dr. Who's Line Is It Anyways? booth door

Members of Team Gimp My Ride play games at Wonderville

On Saturday, January 27, 2024, the 21st edition of Idiotarod returned to the streets of New York City. Now that the race has been around for over two decades, it’s finally old enough to legally enter its own checkpoints that are bars. Nearly 20 registered teams competed in a race with a secret route for prizes, glory, or infamy. Each team came up with a theme, games, bribes, and food and drink items. The night before, the starting location was revealed to be at Grand Army Plaza at noon. Once the teams gathered at Grand Army Plaza, an announcement was made by Anney Fresh which revealed that the first checkpoint was 99Rogers, with racers on the move shortly after 1PM. The second checkpoint was Wonderville, in Bushwick, but the Idiotarod Instagram account initially posted the incorrect location. The stories post told people to head to Bar Cornelia for checkpoint 2 which was actually the third one. A correction was eventually posted but I imagine some people following the race online headed to the wrong place prematurely and possibly caused confusion (hence, the final checkpoint winning the Best Sabotage award instead of a team). The race’s finale was at The Deep End, where carts were destroyed after the awards ceremony. The Gimp My Ride team took home Best in Show which meant that the same team won the big prize for a second consecutive year (they were Mad Max: Furry Road in 2023).

I left the race before the racers departed for Bar Cornelia since I had to head to The Museum of Modern Art in the evening. The gallery above covers from 12-4PM before I made my way home before going to Manhattan. I’m so happy that Idiotarod is still going after all these years and I am looking forward to Idiotarod XXII in 2025, which makes it the 20th anniversary of attending my very first Idiotarod race.

Results of Idiotarod XXI on Saturday, January 27, 2024
BEST IN SHOW: Gimp My Ride
BEST COSTUMES: Orcapy Whale Street
BEST CART DESIGN: Hurtz Gold Member
BEST BRIBERY: Hot Cucumber
BEST SABOTAGE: Checkpoint 3
THE FUTURE OF AMERICA: Dance Dance Revolutionaries
BEST PRESCRIPTION DELIVERY SERVICE: Dr. Who’s Line Is It Anyways?
PAVLOVIAN CHILD TRAP: One Fell Scoop
BEST BACKROOM CASINO: Clam’s Casino
TIN FOIL HAT AWARD: Space Junk
BEST FINISH LINE: The Deep End
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Anney Fresh

HONORABLE MENTIONS
LITTLE ORPHAN ANNEY AWARD: CARTapus CARTastrophe
ROOKIES: Traitor Joe’s, Suds n’ Buds, Loaf Gang