BETHLEHEM - The fourth annual Amazing Earth Day Race has drawn 16 teams, each with between 4 to 16 members, ranging in age from pre-teens to what organizer Chip Reynolds describes as "geezers like me." Reynolds regards himself as a geezer because  he was old enough to celebrate the world's first Earth Day in 1970 by planting trees with friends.

Teams will gather between 5:30 and 5:45 p.m. at Five Rivers Environmental Education Center. Then at 6 p.m., they plunge into the forest. There they must solve puzzles or problems at various stops before they complete the race. They aren't supposed to leave the forest until the problems are solved and the race is done.

"Each team must solve the problem successfully to get directions to the next station.," Reynolds said. "Occasionally, the teams do clump up at tone stop if the problem is especially difficult."

When that happens, organizers can prod a team forward with clues or hints, explained Reynolds. The fastest completion time is usually about one hour. He can't remember a time when a team took longer than two hours to finish.

"We've got our teams in place but everyone is welcome to come by and cheer them on," Reynolds said.

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The 4th Annual Amazing Earth Day Race

Five Rivers Environmental Education Center at 56 Game Farm Road in Delmar will begin with team members gathering at 5:45 p.m. The race 6 p.m. Organizers promise that two hours is the longest any team has taken to solve the Earth Day puzzles and finish the race.

The Earth Day event raises money for the Friends of Fiver Rivers' Guided School Programs which help students learn about nature while enjoying the forest, wetlands and meadow. This marks the programs' 40th year. More than 3,000 students participate annually.

Friday's race is a local version of an epic nationwide annual competition with teams racing across America testing their MacGyver-ish skills and nature-related knowledge.