Another campus tradition returns in person, as the annual Richland Road Rallye comes off the blocks and starts its engines on Friday, May 13 at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville Richland. The event is a clue-solving, driving race at safe speeds that pits students, faculty, alumni and any other community members who want to test their knowledge of greater Richland County history and geography in a race to the finish line. No advance registration is needed.
“The Road Rallye has always been a great chance for students to be social with our instructors, campus staff and other people in the area,” said Ibrahim Zaki, the current president of the Richland Student Senate. “I hear that the competition can get pretty intense, so that should be fun to see.”
Professors Marnie Dresser and Gail Hoffman have taken on the task of designing this year’s course, which, as always, combines clue solving with a good knowledge of area roads and landmarks, to route teams to a gathering spot where food and fun await. Teams are each given a full set of clues, and an emergency envelope with the final location if they want to give up and just join the party.
Teams leave at staggered times for road safety, and the winners are chosen through a combination of clues solved, miles traveled and time elapsed. It can lead to some serious negotiation with the event’s judges, but as Dresser recalls, the rules of the Road Rallye are clear, “The decisions of the judges are always final and always right, even if it appears the judges are wrong.”
Those wishing to join the 48th Richland Road Rallye must have at least one member of each team on campus to attend a safety and rules briefing in the Roadrunner Café at 2:30 p.m., with the first departure scheduled for 3 p.m.