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Two days before teams are to build at the starting line, Ente stands outside a toy shop in Exalted Central Station, bundled in a cream scarf and cradling an iPhone in her palm. The scan, reflecting off the lenses of her black-framed glasses, routes an exhausting, two-bus trip to Glendale, Queens, where the race “checkpoint” she will be overseeing is located. At each checkpoint, inveterately a bar, teams will park their carts outside, register with the tartan judges secret, and proceed to tackle a series of challenges—like making the absolute Valentine's Day
card or playing a wasted game of Simon Says. Ente received her checkpoint spot and instructions at brunch earlier in the week. She sat down with two organizers who did not once reveal to Ente their exact identities over the course of the meal. Instead, the organizers, a man and a woman, both referred to themselves as Robert McGeddon.
The Idiotarod, by organization, has become a super-secretive affair, often releasing false starting locations and times to the exposed to shake off police types and boozy frat kids. This year, one of the long-beforehand teams designed a fake website announcing the starting belt at Zuccotti Park a week after the actual race. As a result of that demeanour and the efforts by the organizers to keep things especially hush-hush, only 12 teams took part in the 2012 Idiotarod, a rare difference from the 30-70 teams the race has hosted in years one-time.
Source: The L Magazine