Race Director and fellow Run Oregon blogger Annette Vaughn offered me a pair of entries for her Get A Clue Scavenger Hunt on Saturday, and since I wasn't able to participate myself (Vancouver USA Marathon was the following day), I had my friend Lacey, former fencing teammate and lover of adventure, in my place!
Race name: Get A Clue Scavenger Hunt
Date/time: Saturday, June 14th, 2014 @ 9:30am
Registration/price: $25-$35 per person
Location: Horning Hall; Clackamas County Event Center; Canby, Oregon
Events offered: Scavenger Hunt (avg. distance 3-6 miles)
Number of teams: 27
Beneficiary: N/A
Race name: Get A Clue Scavenger Hunt
Date/time: Saturday, June 14th, 2014 @ 9:30am
Registration/price: $25-$35 per person
Location: Horning Hall; Clackamas County Event Center; Canby, Oregon
Events offered: Scavenger Hunt (avg. distance 3-6 miles)
Number of teams: 27
Beneficiary: N/A
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Where to begin? Early morning to start with (well, not for the rest of the world, but I work a night job and anything before 10 is considered early). Rolled out of bed and started to prepare for the assured awesomeness that was the Get A Clue Scavenger Race in Canby on June 14th. I was lucky enough to score two free entries for myself and my friend L thanks to the lovely and talented Marilyn Tycer (for whom I am writing this review.)
When we arrived, it was pretty nondescript and there were obviously several other events going on at the same time; horses, dogs, and runners! Oh my!
L and I were the first to arrive and we weren't really sure where to go but check-in was close to the entrance of the Fairground and volunteers were happy to answer questions. When we got our team name bibs we were proud that our team name was “Valar Morghulis” (if you're a fan of the Game of Thrones/ Song of Ice and Fire, you'll recognize it quickly... for all men must die. And, yes, L and I are both obsessed with the show. Just gonna have to deal with our nerdiness/awesomeness.)
At first, I thought it was going to be a pretty small event, but soon the teams started to appear. I was a little surprised to learn that the event was scheduled to take around 2 hours, but you definitely need it to be able to hit all the checkpoints.
Some of the negative stuff about this event:
– Super small and not a lot of signage to let you know where to go for registration/check-in.
– Train. That is all.
– We got to a checkpoint and there wasn't anyone there to tell us what to do or to get tickets. We spent the better part of 5 minutes trying to find a volunteer. What's worse, when we did, they didn't know exactly what they were supposed to be doing.
– Even though Valar Morghulis won, we didn't really /win/ anything. We got medals, but that was pretty much it. It would have been great to earn a free race entry (I was really hoping for the Canby Dahlia Half Marathon) and much of the fabulous prizes were decided by fate and lottery tickets.
– Medals weren't distinctive. It'd be nice if they had the place number or the name of the event on them.
Now for the positive stuff:
– Everything seemed to be run very efficiently, we even started a little early.
– The volunteers were incredibly helpful and there was an absolutely charming couple who seemed to be the official photographers for the event.
– Everyone was having a great time.
– Canby is adorable!
– Free drink at the Wild Hare (mmmm... Beer... not to mention there was a stuffed, sassy-looking cougar above the bar.)
– I have to give a shout-out to the girls that had to deal with the bubblegum bubble blowing. They were really good sports (many bubbles were blown and the gum was super sugary and kinda tough..)
– The t-shirts were really great looking and the cotton t-shirts were an excellent deal ($15 each).
– It was a freaking Scavenger Hunt! Love that! The puzzles were really enjoyable (except for the golf one), and, instead of a bunch of physical challenges, many were accessible to everyone. Legos, word searches, figuring out clues, and BINGO!
Things it would have been nice to see:
– It would have been cool to have a mini contest for the “best named team”.
– Additionally, I am a huge fan of posting immediate results (just the final placements) and they are still not up. This makes me a sad panda.
Overall, I would say that the event was really enjoyable. I would like to see a little more organization when it comes to getting the volunteers on the same page for some of the challenge instructions. I am glad that I didn't have to pay the $30 dollars for the event, though, but I can see it getting better and better down the road. The clues were well thought out and there was something for all ages and abilities (getting out to the Country Club, for example. We were also one of the few teams to get to the vet clinic, which is why we won. Boo-ya!)
On a separate note, I did ruin a pair of my favorite running shorts jumping a fence, but that isn't on the organizers, that's me being a dumb-butt and trying to save some time and failing completely.
When we arrived, it was pretty nondescript and there were obviously several other events going on at the same time; horses, dogs, and runners! Oh my!
L and I were the first to arrive and we weren't really sure where to go but check-in was close to the entrance of the Fairground and volunteers were happy to answer questions. When we got our team name bibs we were proud that our team name was “Valar Morghulis” (if you're a fan of the Game of Thrones/ Song of Ice and Fire, you'll recognize it quickly... for all men must die. And, yes, L and I are both obsessed with the show. Just gonna have to deal with our nerdiness/awesomeness.)
At first, I thought it was going to be a pretty small event, but soon the teams started to appear. I was a little surprised to learn that the event was scheduled to take around 2 hours, but you definitely need it to be able to hit all the checkpoints.
Some of the negative stuff about this event:
– Super small and not a lot of signage to let you know where to go for registration/check-in.
– Train. That is all.
– We got to a checkpoint and there wasn't anyone there to tell us what to do or to get tickets. We spent the better part of 5 minutes trying to find a volunteer. What's worse, when we did, they didn't know exactly what they were supposed to be doing.
– Even though Valar Morghulis won, we didn't really /win/ anything. We got medals, but that was pretty much it. It would have been great to earn a free race entry (I was really hoping for the Canby Dahlia Half Marathon) and much of the fabulous prizes were decided by fate and lottery tickets.
– Medals weren't distinctive. It'd be nice if they had the place number or the name of the event on them.
Now for the positive stuff:
– Everything seemed to be run very efficiently, we even started a little early.
– The volunteers were incredibly helpful and there was an absolutely charming couple who seemed to be the official photographers for the event.
– Everyone was having a great time.
– Canby is adorable!
– Free drink at the Wild Hare (mmmm... Beer... not to mention there was a stuffed, sassy-looking cougar above the bar.)
– I have to give a shout-out to the girls that had to deal with the bubblegum bubble blowing. They were really good sports (many bubbles were blown and the gum was super sugary and kinda tough..)
– The t-shirts were really great looking and the cotton t-shirts were an excellent deal ($15 each).
– It was a freaking Scavenger Hunt! Love that! The puzzles were really enjoyable (except for the golf one), and, instead of a bunch of physical challenges, many were accessible to everyone. Legos, word searches, figuring out clues, and BINGO!
Things it would have been nice to see:
– It would have been cool to have a mini contest for the “best named team”.
– Additionally, I am a huge fan of posting immediate results (just the final placements) and they are still not up. This makes me a sad panda.
Overall, I would say that the event was really enjoyable. I would like to see a little more organization when it comes to getting the volunteers on the same page for some of the challenge instructions. I am glad that I didn't have to pay the $30 dollars for the event, though, but I can see it getting better and better down the road. The clues were well thought out and there was something for all ages and abilities (getting out to the Country Club, for example. We were also one of the few teams to get to the vet clinic, which is why we won. Boo-ya!)
On a separate note, I did ruin a pair of my favorite running shorts jumping a fence, but that isn't on the organizers, that's me being a dumb-butt and trying to save some time and failing completely.
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