Race Details

What type of challenges will be given?

The challenges will range in difficulty, involvement and skills needed. We want this race to be available for everyone, so we promise not to make it too difficult. We can’t tell you the exact challenges for this year, but in case you’d like a little more of an idea, here’s some challenges from past years:

Go to the Knoxville Museum of Art’s sculpture garden. Choose either play-dough or pipe cleaners as your materials and recreate one of the three sculptures in the middle of the garden. You must have your sculpture approved by the race volunteers before your team can move on.

Go to the climbing wall at the Civic Coliseum yard. One team member must climb to the top of the climbing wall before your team can move on.

Go to the Blount Mansion Visitor Center and learn the 18th century game “High Rollers.” Your team score after  3 rounds of the game must be less than 5 points or your team will need to play one additional game as a time penalty.

Now that we’ve given you those examples, don’t expect to see them on race day.

What is a race passport?

Your team will be given a passport at the start of the race. Once you reach and complete each checkpoint, your team will be given a stamp on your passport. Once you receive all the stamps, your team will race back to the finish line at Market Square. You must present your passport at the finish line to prove you went to all checkpoints on the course.

How long will the race take to complete?

The time it takes depends on how quickly your team completes all the checkpoints. For the 2010 race, teams finished between 1 hour and 30 minutes and 3 hours and 30 minutes. Remember that the focus is on fun and teamwork – those skills may help you win the race better than speed. At 1:45pm the race course will close for preparations for the post-race ceremony.

Do I have to run from (checkpoint to checkpoint)?

You are not required to run the whole course, but the more you run, the greater your chances of being The Big KnoxVenture Race champion.

How many checkpoints and challenges will there be?

There are twelve checkpoints on the course and each location has one activity to complete. We can’t give you specifics now about the checkpoint locations, but as you begin the race, you will be given a map with all checkpoints circled.

How long will the course be?

At the end of the course, you will have traveled approximately a 5K distance (3.1 miles) but it depends on the route your team takes. If this seems like a lot, remember that there will be 12 checkpoints throughout the race that will give you a second to breathe.

Are the roads closed during the race?

No. Streets are neither closed to traffic, nor policed for this event. Therefore, participants must obey all traffic laws along the way. Any team caught not following traffic laws will be disqualified.

Do you have to complete the tasks in a particular order?

No! We encourage teams to choose their own route based on their team’s strength and race strategy. We will provide an optional route for those not as familiar or comfortable with downtown Knoxville, but that route does not have to be followed. It may be to a team’s advantage to strategize about the best checkpoint order as soon as they are given the map. Teams may leave a checkpoint if the wait is too long and return at another time.

What if my team can’t complete a challenge?

If you get stuck, you can take a time penalty of 10 minutes, which will be monitored by a race volunteer. After that time, you will receive a stamp on your race passport and your team can move on to another checkpoint.