Twenty-five hardy -- some might say foolhardy -- souls gathered at Starbucks in the Omni William Penn Hotel Saturday morning for the second annual Urban Gut Check Challenge.

	John Beale, Post-Gazette Dave Stiles of Collier, right, races along Grant Street carrying a tool box, flanked by Charlie Brethauer of Richland, during Saturday's Urban Gut Check Challenge. Click photo for larger image.

That's five times as many as participated last year in the inaugural event, an unusual combination of physical challenges and offbeat tasks concocted by 37-year-old Eric Hodos, an information technology project manager at Mellon Financial Corp.

Before joining Mellon in 2002, Mr. Hodos was an Army Ranger, from whence came his inspiration for the devilish tortures awaiting those gathered in the William Penn Starbucks.

The Urban Gut Check Challenge is based, very loosely, on the contests of the Hash House Harriers, an international running and drinking club created in 1938 in Kuala Lumpur in what is now Malaysia by an Englishman, Albert Gispert.

Mr. Gispert was a member of the Selangor Club, where the food was notable, but not in a good way -- hence its nickname, "the Hash House." He updated the ancient children's game of hare and hounds for his fellow club members, developing an event in which two runners would lay a trail for other runners to follow.

In Mr. Gispert's version, the trail would lead to an undisclosed destination, where copious amounts of alcoholic beverages awaited them.

The Hash House Harriers inspired the sport of orienteering, very popular in the military, in which runners, equipped with map and compass, are required to hit control points before reaching a final destination. Land navigation skills are as important to victory as speed and endurance.

There isn't much need for a compass in an urban environment, but Mr. Hodos devised other ways to tax the minds as well as the bodies, and to tickle the funny bones of those who took part in his version of "hashing."

Mr. Hodos said he created the Urban Gut Check Challenge because he wanted to make physical fitness more fun.

All who gathered last Saturday were friends of his, either from work, from the Downtown Athletic Club, where he teaches spinning three days a week, or from his neighborhood in Allison Park.

"Eric made us come," said Marian Vanek, co-owner with Dan Griffin of the Downtown Athletic Club. "He's a very enthusiastic person."

Mr. Hodos created individualized challenges, based on the athletic ability of each participant. It took him about two weeks to devise the challenges and check the routes.

"I wanted to push them, but not too hard," he said.

Most who accepted the challenge were runners, but some were cyclists. The runners ran distances of up to 15 miles. The cyclists cycled up to 31 miles.

The racers left at staggered intervals from the Mellon clock at Sixth and Grant, beginning at 9:15 a.m. All were expected to return by 11:30. On the way, they were to perform tasks, many of which could, if the participant chose, involve the consumption of alcoholic beverages.

Dave Stiles, an IT architect at Mellon, had one of the shortest routes to run, just 3.75 miles. But he had to run up Mt. Washington via dizzily steep Sycamore Street, wearing a construction helmet and carrying a toolbox.

If Mr. Stiles could complete that task and return to the Mellon clock within 90 minutes, he would earn 1,000 points on the highly arbitrary Hodos grading system.

He could earn an additional 250 points if, after taking a picture of the toolbox on one of the overlooks on Grandview Boulevard, he jogged to a "drinking establishment of your choosing on the South Side. A picture of you kicking back with a beverage of choice will earn you 250 points. Pictures of friends joining you will earn you more."

The task given to Dave Tetrick and Scott Dismukes, friends from the Downtown Athletic Club, was to cycle to the Hodos home in Allison Park, haul a keg of beer from the yard to the basement for the post-challenge party, tap it, ice it down, and return to the Mellon clock within two hours and 15 minutes.

The task given to Marian Vanek and Dan Griffin was to photograph both ends of the Liberty Tunnel. Pedestrians are not allowed in the Liberty Tunnel, so this meant they had to clamber up and down Mount Washington twice.

The challenge for Duquesne University student Eddie Motley was to run to the Original Hot Dog Shop in Oakland carrying $10 in pennies, climbing the stairway of the University of Pittsburgh's 42-story Cathedral of Learning on the way. He was to buy as much food as he could with the cash he was carrying, and return with it to the Mellon clock within 90 minutes.

Mr. Motley couldn't complete his challenge, he said, because "The O" wouldn't accept his pennies.

Ken Dowd's challenge was to run to the Get-Go store on 40th Street in Lawrenceville and buy a bag of doughnuts. Then he was to offer the doughnuts to four runners who had been sent to Frankie's Extra Long diner on Butler Street. He'd get bonus points for every runner who accepted a doughnut. Another runner was offered bonus points for stealing the bag of doughnuts from Mr. Dowd.

Participants said they had a good time.

"It was demanding, but it was kind of fun to have people stare at you as you ran up Sycamore Street," Mr. Griffin said. "The other part is the camaraderie of people getting together."

Mr. Stiles said he got gassed running up Mount Washington with his toolbox, and had to walk part way.

"About 10 cars passed me. Not one of them offered me a ride," he complained at the after-race party.

Most said they were looking forward to Eric's next challenge.

That will be a team competition next March, Mr. Hodos said. "It'll be urban orienteering, with less arbitrary scoring, and maybe some real prizes."

If you'd like to participate in the Urban Gut Check Challenge, send an email to "eric@urbangutcheckchallenge.com."