race begins on Arcata Plaza with the Saturday noon whistle; the race goes through Eureka and Loleta before reaching the finish line on the third day on Main Street in Ferndale. The race is broadcast live on local radio station KHUM. East Coast Championship in Baltimore In 1999, the American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM) in Baltimore worked with Hobart Brown to start the first race in the Eastern United States, and has sponsored the race every year since. On 4 May 2019, 22 teams brought 25 sculptures to Baltimore for the 21st East Coast Championship. With the 2020 race postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the next race was scheduled Saturday, 1 May 2021. However, the 2021 edition was held as a "mini-race" owing to social distancing guidelines. Twenty teams participated in the 22nd East Coast Championship on Saturday, 7 May 2022. In contrast to the rural flair of Humboldt County, the Baltimore race spans the city's urban center and is completed in a single day. The race begins with morning opening ceremonies and the Le Mans Start down Federal Hill to AVAM on the south side of the Inner Harbor, continues past well-known sites including the Maryland Science Center, Harborplace, the USS Constellation, the National Aquarium, and Fells Point, enters the water at Canton, continues with sand and mud challenges at Patterson Park, then through Butchers Hill and downtown to the finish line at AVAM in mid- to late-afternoon. An awards ceremony at AVAM concludes the event. In 2002, Baltimore's race included a loop around the Patterson Park ice skating rink, a challenging extension of the all-terrain aspect. However, in the years since then the race occurs later in the spring to benefit from warmer weather – after the rink closes for the season. Rutabaga Queens and other numeraries Early in the history of the Championship, contestants began to select an annual Rutabaga Queen. with active Queens Pigtunia Swineheart (83/84), Queen Denise Ryles 2001, Queen Mo "Mo Betta" Burke 2002, Queen Mair "Jane Doe" Dodd 2003, Queen Monica Topping 2004, Queen Shaye "Flamebouyant Femme Fatale" Harty 2005, Queen Harmony "Foxy Biloxi" Groves 2006, Queen Emma "Emma the Emchantress" Breacain 2007, Queen Kati "Lotta Paintbuckets" Texas 2008, Queen Jermaine "Jermajesty" Brubaker 2009, Queen Jennifer "Dinah Might" Thelander 2010, Queen Natalie Arroyo "G-ma" 2011, and Queen Wendy "Sohotshe" Burns LaRutabaga" 2012. The 2004, 2005 and 2006 Queens were the founding members