10th Annual Chiditarod Collects Food, Money For Charity
CHICAGO (CBS) --Saturday was the 10th annual running of the "Chiditarod," a shopping cart race and fundraiser, modeled - very loosely - after the Iditarod sled dog race in Alaska.
139 teams of five people each, pulled decorated shopping carts through the streets, stopping a designated checkpoints, or bars, along the way.
The 700 or so mushers started at a warehouse on the 1900 block of West Hubbard Street, each team fanning out in a race that many involved used one word to describe: epic.
Teams decorated shopping carts to look like heavy construction equipment, an El stop and a working kitchen.
Dan Brown was the foreman of a group called the "Department of Public Jerks" who converted shopping carts into a crane and steamroller with a sign saying "Danger: Manic Drunk."
"There is a little bit of covert drinking in this event," he said.
When the event started 10 years ago, Devin Breen and some friends just thought it would be a fun and creative thing to do.
He says that first year they were concerned they'd be arrested for causing chaos in the streets, hauling decorated shopping carts around and wearing costumes, so, he says, they added the charity component.
That first year, they collected 700 pounds of food. Last year, it was more than 20,000 pounds.
Over the years they've raised more than $100,000 for charity and have collected more than 100,000 pounds of food.