Kevin Keefe didn't plan on having one of his Urban Dare events in San Antonio, that is, until San Antonio came calling.

At a recent Urban Dare event in Austin, a group of San Antonians pleaded with Keefe — the organization's president — to sponsor a race in San Antonio. They even offered him a place to stay and to help organize the event.

“With all that, I was like, ‘OK, I have to do one in San Antonio,'.” Keefe said. “It was meant to be.”

Urban Dare, billed by Keefe as a sort of “one-day ‘Amazing Race,'.” will take place on Saturday, Nov. 3, at Brackenridge Park. The race, in which teams of two follow clues to various checkpoints and, eventually, a final destination, will conclude in Southtown.

Not that Urban Dare is simply about solving clues. At certain checkpoints, team members will have to complete mystery events, or “dares.” Among the dares: answering trivia questions, standing on one's head or completing a jigsaw puzzle.

Players can travel by foot or bus, though cars and cabs are outlawed. Technology, however, is not, as teams are allowed to maintain contact with a point-person who works on a computer.

“They can call (the computer point-person) to look things up,” Keefe said.
The winning team will be entered in the National Champions Race on Jan. 12 in Miami.

Keefe, a former political consultant in Washington, D.C., began Urban Dare as a two-race event in 2005, then expanded the schedule to 10 races last year. By year's end, 2007 will have featured 20 Urban Dare events in cities such as Miami, Austin and Philadelphia.

CLINT HALE | 210SA