The Complete Idiotarod's Guide

Judges stamp you as you enter and check your stamp when you leave, because with a race like this, there is no honor system.

Naturally, it is perfectly acceptable to bribe these judges with various products purchased from the bar to let you leave even sooner and get back to the race.

Of course, the race has those who are just out for a good time. Bar Back Mountain, a team who turned their shopping cart into a fully functioning bar, were one of those groups in 2006. However, that team met its own Rocky moment when the fully loaded beer keg inside the cart was seized by police, only after they had already run with it from the start of the race at Fort Greene Park all the way down to the Gotham side of the Manhattan Bridge.

After the race, onlookers, judges, organizers and runners can partake in the afterparty, this year featuring live music by Gowanus Corral, the Impulse, Flaming Fire and others. The big moment, however, is the announcing of the winners -- this year, the Web site says there are only awards for fourth, fifth and sixth place: no rewarding anyone in shape.

Of course, deception is par for the course when it comes to the Idiotarod, so there is a chance the Web site could be lying.

The Idiotarod 2007 takes place Jan. 27 in New York City and March 3 in Portland and Washington, D.C. See cartsofbrooklyn.com for more information.