by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Last year about this time, Troy Spurlin and Jordan Boss were doing very different things on opposite sides of the hemisphere. Spurlin was working on the “George Lopez Show” for Warner Bros. TV in Los Angeles and Boss was an administrator at the Sulzbacher Center for the Homeless.
Today, both are with the Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art and both hold the keys to winning $2,000 this Saturday.
Spurlin is the director of marketing and special events for JMOMA while Boss is the director of development. Saturday morning at 9 a.m. sharp, they will drop the checkered flag on JMOMA’s and Jacksonville’s first “Great Race” — a day long event during which teams of four will use nearly every means necessary to decipher 75 clues, locate the answers somewhere on the First Coast, take a team photo in front of the answer and clock in at Burrito Gallery with as many correct photos as possible by 5 p.m.
“I played in it last year in Los Angeles and it’s kind of the same concept. It was something fun to bring to Jacksonville,” said Spurlin.
“I’m just a cheerleader for the event,” said Boss, jokingly. “I’m also helping Troy recruit the teams.”
Spurlin and Boss are looking for 50 four-person teams to sign up at $200 a team. The winning team gets $2,000 and bragging rights for a year.
The concept is pretty simple but the game isn’t.
Saturday morning — after coffee, juice and donuts at JMOMA — at 9, the teams will be given 75 clues. Those clues, when deciphered, will point to a First Coast landmark or designation. Then the real strategizing begins. Where to start? Which direction? Do teams decipher several clues and create a map of the area to serve as a starting point?
Spurlin says these and many others are points to ponder and the real beauty of the race is a vast majority of the strategizing can’t begin until the clues are passed out. The team that accumulates the most correct photos — with all four members in the printed picture — and meets the 5 p.m. deadline, wins $2,000. And, don’t be late.
“We are closing the doors (to Burrito Gallery) at 5,” said Spurlin.
Both Spurlin and Boss agree the race will benefit longtime Jacksonville residents as well as newcomers. And, they don’t expect to run out of clues and landmarks, even a few years from now.
“The landscape in Jacksonville is changing and as large as the city is, landmarks are never in short supply,” said Spurlin, adding the race includes Duval County and areas of Clay, St. Johns and Nassau. “Everything is strategy and the team coming together. It’s an excellent team-building exercise.”
“We expect a lot of different strategies from a lot of different teams,” said Boss, adding the 75 clues are locked in a safe at JMOMA and only she, Spurlin and JMOMA Director George Kinghorn are privy to them.
So far, about 25 teams have signed up. There are two from LaVilla, the Jacksonville & the Beaches Convention and Visitors Bureau, one from Blue Cross Blue Shield, several from Impact Jacksonville and several others. Spurlin said he doesn’t expect any team to get all 75 and figures the winning score will be in the 60s.
While the teams may only use one vehicle and only the original four team members may participate — show up with someone else Saturday morning and you are disqualified — there aren’t many other rules. The use of a laptop, cell phone, Blackberry, GPS or any other information gathering device is legal and encouraged. As the rules state: “the point is find the answer, find the location, get the photo.”
“Nothing prevents using outside help,” said Spurlin.
The photos will be on display at November’s Art Walk. For infomation on how to enter your business as a team or you and three friends, call Spurlin at 366-6911, ext. 210 or log on to www.jmoma.org. You can also pick up an application at JMOMA or Burritio Gallery.
One of 75 clues in Saturday’s “Great Race”:
This daughter of a Jacksonville minister had a top-10 single — “Higher and Higher” — produced by A&M Records. She attended a Jacksonville high school. Find that school and take a group shot in front of the marquee bearing this school’s name.