Tales from TA: The USARA Blog

2021 USARA Nationals - Racer Update #1

9/1/2021

We hope you are excited and ready to go for the National Championship race next week. This will be the first of two updates between now and race day. All race updates will be available on the website in addition to you receiving them by email. If for any reason we need additional updates they will also be distributed by email and posted to the website.

As always, don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions at info@usara.com.

Now, onto the update!

Embargo
Effective immediately all land within a 30-mile radius of Lakewoods Resort is embargoed to all racers. The intent of this embargo is to keep things as fair as possible for all racers so please respect it. Violation of this embargo by racers may result in disqualification.

If you're curious to at least see what the maps look like for the area we suggest you check out the sample map posted on 180 Adventure's website at this link.

Waiver signing
While reviewing the registration documentation we discovered that some of you signed the USARA waiver, but others appear to have been given the RunSignup standard waiver. We need to be sure that everyone has read and signed the USARA waiver prior to the race. We still want to take care of it online so you can complete your waiver by clicking on the link below. Please note that EVERYONE must complete this waiver.

USARA Waiver

Our apologies for the inconvenience on this one, and thank you!

COVID Code of Conduct
Our COVID Code of Conduct is posted here for you to review. Be prepared to have a mask with you at all times during the race weekend. Please be aware that repeated lack of cooperation with mask guidelines may ultimately lead to penalties for your team up to and including disqualification from the event. We will outline specific guidelines on mask usage in the final race update.

Invoicing for your final balance
You will receive an email from RunSignup for the balance due for your registration in the next day or so. If you believe the amount is incorrect please let us know before you submit payment. We will not be accepting payments on-site, so if you have any issues submitting your payment please let us know as possible.

Gear List
The final gear list is posted on the website at this link. PLEASE review it carefully to be sure that you have everything you need for the race! You should always be prepared for gear checks at any time.

There are a few specific things pertaining to gear that we want to point out about the gear list:

Canoe seats - These can be hard to come by if you do not already have one. You will NOT need to carry canoe seats at any time during the race. We will transport them for you if/when required. If the best you can come up with is something like a milk crate you will not have to carry it. Just be sure it fits in the boat.
Cold/wet weather gear - The weather has been hovering somewhere between the mid-60's and mid-70's for highs, and high-40's to mid-50's for lows in the forecasts for race day. Plan on carrying this gear. You might be warm/hot while moving but you need to be prepared in the event that a teammate is injured and stationary, while potentially being wet. This gear is a safety consideration.
Writing utensil - Make sure you have a good writing utensil.
UTM tool - You will NOT have to plot your maps. However, in the event that a last-minute control change is needed we will provide master maps with the new location AND the UTM coordinates for the new location.
Bike lights - Note that a front-mounted light is required. This is in addition to a headlamp if you ride with a headlamp. This light does not need to be an expensive high powered light. It is strictly so that others can see you. Small LED lights will suffice. Just be sure you have battery power for the entire race. Be prepared to demonstrate that you have functional front and rear lights at any time during the race, even during daylight hours. Rear red lights will be required to be on at all times, even during daylight hours.
Maps - You will receive two large maps (18x24 and 36x24) as well as eight smaller supplemental maps (3-8.5x11, 2-11x17 and 3-14x18) for the race. They will have varying degrees of water resistance. Keep this in mind when determining how you want to protect them during the race.

Paddling Gear Request
We made a separate section for this just to be sure that no one missed it. If your team needs paddles or PFD's please fill out the form below so we can be sure to have enough for everyone.

Paddle Gear Request Form

Race Logistics

Lodging is currently full at Lakewoods. If you have not yet secured a room let us know and we will see what we can do.
If you are planning on getting supplies on the way to the race your best bet is to stop in Hayward. Cable has a very limited general store.
If you need to ship your bike you can ship it directly to Lakewoods by contacting us at info@usara.com. You can also ship it to the Start Line Inn and they will even build it for you (for a fee).
Our intent is to open racer check-in as early as possible on Thursday to reduce crowding. We will also be doing check-in outside if the weather cooperates. The exact times and location will be provided in the final update, but we will do our best to get it open as soon as possible.
The final schedule of events will be distributed in the next email but our awards banquet will be earlier in the afternoon and be outside, so be prepared if the weather is on the chillier side.
As always we welcome friends and family to come out and watch you all race! We will have maps and instructions for how they can best see you during the race. If you have any questions about this just let us know.

Tracking and race coverage
As you all know we will have tracking for all teams. We will also have a robust media team out there capturing photos and videos of all of you and posting regular updates. We will release specifics on how to access all of this in the final update. Links and information will be available to you well ahead of the race so that you can share them with family and friends prior to your arrival at Lakewoods.

Team Bio and photo
We would love to post a team photo and brief bio for all our teams on the tracking site. The bio does not have to be lengthy, even a sentence or two highlighting your experience in adventure racing and the National Championship will be great! You can submit all bio information to garrison@usara.com.

Use of the new Garmin AR mode
Garmin has recently released a new adventure racing mode for many of its watches. This mode allows you to use your watch while recording your route while only having access to basic watch functionality, (time, timer, barometric altimeter, etc.). We're still working out a few details with Garmin but the hope is to allow the use of Garmin watches in AR mode only for the race. Please note that you will likely be required to have the latest version of the Garmin software on your device so make sure it's up to date. We will have additional details on how this will work on race day in our next update.

That's it for your first update. Just a reminder to please complete your payment as soon as you receive your invoice, submit the paddle gear request form (if needed), and complete your waivers as soon as you can.

We have a competitive field of over 50 teams from all over the country and a fantastic course waiting for you. The weather is, so far, looking to be great for racing, and our race director, Paula Waite, has even said that the bugs are "not that bad, for Wisconsin". (Those of you that know Wisconsin bugs will know that this means you should probably still pack that bug spray.) We can't wait to see you all in Wisconsin!

Mike Garrison
garrison@usara.com
Executive Director
United States Adventure Racing Association

Update on 2021 Nationals - COVID procedures

7/28/2021

Over the last eighteen months, as we have all been hoping and waiting for a return for normalcy, adventure racing has served as an anchor for so many of us. With the dissemination of vaccines and the encouraging numbers we’ve all experienced since the spring, we at USARA have been looking to the 2021 National Championship as an opportunity to bring together our community and celebrate our ability to do the thing that we all love, with the people we love doing it with.

We are still eagerly anticipating this year’s nationals in Cable, Wisconsin, but in light of the surge of the Delta variant in the US and the rapid return to more stringent regulations, we write now to share with you our plans to host a safe event and to mitigate the risk of exposure and spread of COVID-19 for the entire AR community: racers, volunteers, families, and the communities we’ll be visiting in our travels and on the course.

First, we are committed to following local, state, and federal guidelines. As we all remember from earlier stages of the pandemic, the landscape of these regulations, recommendations, and healthcare realities can change very rapidly, and we anticipate that the situation will look different in September than it does today. At this point, erring toward the likelihood of additional restrictions in six weeks rather than fewer, we are currently considering the following:

1. General Safety: We are returning to and reexamining the “COVID Best Practices” that we developed earlier in the pandemic.

2. Masking: Yesterday, the CDC recommended a return to indoor masking in regions of the country where COVID rates are above a certain threshold. Bayfield County, Wisconsin (where Cable is located) is in one of those areas, as are approximately two-thirds of the counties in the United States. Because we have racers traveling to Cable from across the country, including from areas that the CDC has deemed “surging,” we anticipate requiring CDC-compliant masks for all indoor race-related activities, for all volunteers, participants, and their families. As you will see on the gear list, now published on the nationals website, masks will be required gear for all racers.

3. Registration: Weather permitting, we will conduct as much of the race-related logistics as possible outside.

4. Checkpoints: We will be using e-punches for the event, which reduce direct physical contact between teams.

5. Post-race: We are currently exploring a variety of alternatives to our traditional post-race banquet. As much as we would love to bring everyone together for an extended celebration, indoor dining for three hundred people is not possible with the new, and likely evolving, guidelines. If the numbers start trending in a positive direction and we can all gather inside, we see that as a good problem to have, and we will respond accordingly. At this point, however, we are considering the following options:

Hosting a banquet outside, weather permitting, earlier in the day, when temperatures should be more forgiving, at which we will offer a meal and announce podium finishers and other awards.
In the event of inclement weather, we will gather podium teams in an indoor space for either a short, masked event or a live-streamed award ceremony.
If we are unable to gather together for a meal, we will provide boxed food for all racers after the event.

While we cannot provide a definitive timeline for these adjusted plans, we anticipate the day ending earlier than in past years with these adjustments, likely between 4:00 and 5:00PM. This will be true regardless of the nature of the post-race festivities. We share this now so that you can plan your travel accordingly. We will provide a more definitive timeline ASAP.

6. Vaccines. Some racers have already asked about vaccination mandates, either for the race or the post-race banquet. At this point, we do not plan to enforce such a policy, because we want the event to be as inclusive as possible. However, it is plausible that new local, state, or federal guidelines may require us to do so by September.

7.Refunds. Racers have already shared with us that some employers are considering new travel restrictions. In the event that you are not able to come to nationals for COVID-related reasons, please reach out to us at info@usara.com and we will work with you on accommodations.

As always, please take care of yourselves. Our priority, first and foremost, is our community’s health and the health and well-being of our friends and families. The race is secondary to that. That said, we are still incredible excited to see you all in Cable this fall, and we hope everyone will do everything possible to stay heathy and safe between now and then so that we can come together and enjoy what is shaping up to be an outstanding course. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask.

update on 2021 nationals from usara executive director mike garrison

7/13/2021

I know there have been some questions about qualification for the USARA national championship this year, so I wanted to reach out to share a status update on the qualification and registration process.

The new USARA leadership team decided early in our tenure to revise the qualification procedures to better reflect a team’s performance throughout an entire season, emphasizing their holistic performance rather than how they may do at any given race. Though we know that the new process will not make everyone happy, and that there may still be a few wrinkles to iron out, we believe that the updated plan will ensure that the National Championship brings together a geographically diverse field of the top teams across the nation, while also creating the space for one of the things that we all love about our sport: the ability for teams at all levels to line up at the start and commemorate the end of another season of adventuring together.

We also knew going into this year that the 2021 qualification standards would be complicated, because we would have to balance rollover entries for the abbreviated and uneven 2020 season with those teams qualifying via the new procedures that USARA established for 2021.

Qualification for the 2021 National ChampionshiP

To accommodate both of those groups - and the various nuances within each - we have divided the 100-team capacity the following ways:

30 slots have been reserved for 2020 rollovers. Teams have until Saturday 7/17 to accept those invitations.
After the rollover deadline expires:
- 50% of the remaining entries will be offered to the top-ranked mixed teams, based on the USARA points series rankings
- 10% of the remaining entries will be offered to the top-ranked single-gender teams (10% to all-male teams and 10% to all-female teams)
- 10% of slots will be reserved for the USARA Nationals Committee, comprised of me, Stephanie Ross, and Mari Chandler, to award at their discretion.
- 20% of slots are reserved for teams who have not qualified in the rankings - first come/first serve once we open registration widely. Any spot not claimed through the above mechanisms will be added to this 20%.
The top ten mixed teams as of September 1 will receive a 50% discount on their entry, paid for by USARA.

Timeline for Invitations and Registration ProcesS

Here is where we stand now on qualifications and registrations, as of 7/13.

The top thirty mixed teams and top five single-gender teams have received invitations to Nationals.
We will invite the remaining ranked teams on July 23, and teams will have one week to claim their entries.
On August 1 at 12:00pm EST, we will open registration widely, and any open spots will be available on a first-come/first-serve basis.
When teams register, they will be required to pay $450, or 50% of the entry fee. On September 1, all teams except for the top ten mixed teams will receive an invoice for the remaining balance.

Discretionary SlotS

We anticipate having roughly eight discretionary slots available. If your team will not qualify based on the 2020 rollover or 2021 rankings and you believe that you should be at the 2021 National Championship for any reason, please reach out to me no later than July 23. In your email, please include your team name, anticipated Nationals roster, and the reason that you should earn a discretionary slot. The Nationals Committee will meet the following week to determine how to extend these discretionary invites, before open registration widely.

Facebook live Q&A

I recognize that this is a lot of information to distill and that there are a lot of new details to take in. I will be holding a Facebook Live Q&A, specifically on the Nationals qualification and registration process, on Wednesday, July 21 at 8:30pm EST. Please log onto the USARA facebook page then to participate. I will address any questions that come in by email there as well. The video will live on our facebook page and will be available to watch after the fact.

Thank you all for your patience and understanding as we transition to a new qualification structure while still contending with the residual effects of the challenging 2020 season. As always, I’m available to talk through any concerns you may have, about nationals, USARA, or adventure racing more broadly.

And stay tuned for exciting information about the 2022 national championship!

Mike Garrison
USARA Executive Director

New to ar: picking a race

7/6/2021

By Brent Freedland

Picking an event, especially as a less experienced adventure racer, can be a bit daunting. Because adventure races rely on navigation, details about individual races are often kept secret by race directors until a week or so before the start, and much of the course information is not revealed until racers are at check-in or even out on the course. While this dearth of information can be difficult to adapt to, there are several ways racers can learn about a given race, a specific race director (RD), or what to expect out on the course.

First and foremost, understand that when you pick a race, you are really picking an RD. Unlike sports such as marathons and triathlons, there is very little standardization in the sport of adventure racing, and races reflect the personal philosophies, passions, preferences, and creativity of the RD. Some RDs focus on biking, others on foot travel. Some design races that only require basic or intermediate navigation, others challenge the best navigators in the sport. Some set out to serve up the most physically challenging courses they can while others focus on creativity and strategy.

Even then, many RDs are forced to adapt to land conditions or what local land managers will allow, so races can feel very different year to year, especially if a race organization involves different course designers. Additionally, a particular race organization may approach each of their events very differently, depending on their target audience. Considering all of this, newer racers who are not familiar with the different styles and reputations of a given RD may want to do a bit more research before picking the event that is right for them or, more importantly, the event that is right for their team. Here are some thoughts to get you started:

The RD explains the checkpoint flags in a pre-race meeting. Photo by Dan Singer.

TOP 7 TIPS FOR PICKING THE RIGHT ADVENTURE RACE FOR YOU

As discussed in our New to AR Series, exploring the USARA-hosted CALENDARS and identifying potential races that fit your schedule is step number one. Especially if you are thinking about longer races (twelve hours or more), consider keeping your options open and looking a bit further afield geographically. Many adventure racers travel several hours to race since AR is not as common as other endurance sports. The best race for you might not necessarily be the closest one.
Look closely at the race WEBSITE. Does the RD provide details on what you can expect? Are there any hints on whether the race is suitable for beginners, how technical the terrain might be, or how the RD accommodates newer racers if it’s a more challenging event? Typically, a short sprint race (six hours or less) will be accessible to all; it might not be easy, but it should be manageable for most if not all beginners. Longer races tend to be designed with more experienced racers in mind, but many RDs do consciously plan alternative routes or checkpoints with novice racers in mind.
EMAIL the RD with your questions. Most RDs will not provide specific details, but they may be able to clarify how appropriate the event is for your team or answer questions that will help you better assess whether it’s the right event for you.
Of course, RDs also want you to come to their race, and understandably they will be very encouraging most of the time. With this in mind, it is wise to do some additional RESEARCH. Many racers write and publish race reports on personal blogs, social media, and networking sites like AttackPoint. Mark Lattanzi also hosts a library of race reports. It is not exhaustive, so a google search may still help turn up something helpful, but it is a comprehensive and user-friendly starting point. Keep in mind that adventure racers are a very positive group; even when an event might not go according to plan, racers are reluctant to be too critical of an event or an RD. That said, you should be able to learn about the race and the RD’s approach.
NETWORK. The single best way to get information about a race is to talk to other racers in person. If you are thinking of doing another event or weren’t thrilled by your initial experiences, ask a more seasoned racer. Experienced racers will likely know, anecdotally at least but more likely from first-hand experience, what a given RD's strengths and weaknesses are, what their philosophy is on course design, and how they run their events. Racers are also more likely to be a bit more honest about the pros and cons of a given event in person rather than in a public written report. Try to get multiple opinions, and consider that the perspective of a top racer “clearing the course” versus a newer racer doing a shortened version of a course may be completely different. So, reach out, in person or via email. Adventure racers love to chat and help newer racers get into the sport.
ATTENDANCE. Attendance tells part of the story, but be aware that it’s not always the best measure of a race. Sometimes, a race has a big field because it’s the only event nearby, and local racers who don’t travel for racing may return to the same event every year. Some of the best races and race directors have historically had smaller fields of teams. At the same time, big fields can and do sometimes indicate a popular, well-run event.
The single best piece of advice is to sample different events from different RDs. Adventure racing is a unique sport in that races can feel so very different. What might excite one racer at a particular event may not engage another, but both events may be outstanding in their own way. Whether you loved your first race or hated it, consider giving the sport another try with a different RD. Odds are good that if you were tempted into trying an adventure race, the sport IS for you even if you may not find every race to be what you are looking for!

A 2-person co-ed team paddles with their bikes during an adventure race. Photo by Jake Trost.

Inclusion in adventure racing

3/26/2021

On Wednesday, May 19 at 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT, USARA will host a public discussion on equity in, and access to, adventure racing. With this, we aim to begin a community-wide conversation about the current state of inclusion in the sport, and where we can go from here.

This discussion will be facilitated by diversity and inclusion educator Yi Shun Lai, and will bring together Kevin Hodder, race director for Eco-Challenge; Clifton Lyles, captain of Team Onyx and chair of the USARA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force; and Stephanie Ross, founder of the Women in Adventure Racing campaign.

We invite you to join us — to listen, to learn, to ask questions, and to offer feedback. We invite you to come together to ensure that our beloved sport is a welcoming space for everyone who wants to take part, and that it continues to grow.

Part of the great appeal of adventure racing is its intimacy and the ways in which it allows us to gather around shared experiences. These experiences are precious moments; they become the best stories, keep us coming back for more, and ultimately provide an escape from the “real world.”

But as much as AR is an escape, it also exists within the social, political, and economic challenges facing our nation and the world around us. Our membership is not immune to these challenges.

The tragic shootings in Georgia last week only underscore the need for all of us to look more closely at the part we can play in alleviating the pain that inequity can cause. USARA also takes this moment to affirm our commitment to fighting the entrenched systemic racism, xenophobia, and misogyny that creates inequitable systems.

Adventure racers relish the discomfort we face in training and racing. We are a community well equipped for embracing the challenge of addressing the structural barriers to access and entry to our sport. Ultimately, this work will ensure its growth and sustainability for generations of racers to come.

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