adidas TERREX swift | 2nd to 4th June 2012

Swift - Event Updates

News update 31st May

Just a few points of clarification..

all team members need to attend registration at some point, to sign in and to have your SI card attached.
missing checkpoints.. at any point during the event you can miss an optional checkpoint. You just can't go back to it - so if you went from 16 to 18 then 19 you can't then go back to 17. Optional checkpoints have time penalty's which you will find out what they are when you get the route book at registration.
If not missing checkpoints you need to follow the route on the map
If missing a checkpoint you need to adopt the restrictions in the route book or on the info sheet sent out with the maps. Stage 5 and not travelling along A or B roads are the most obvious restrictions, and stage 6 using rights of way or permissive paths.
If in doubt please ask. If you are trying something cheeky - like we always cycling that bit of footpath.. please don't ask.
If you do decide you miss out optional checkpoints in stage 5 you can use 2km of B road between Gunnerside and CP21
We have created a window to hand in kit bags / boxes between 19.30 and 20.30 on Friday evening. The event briefing will not reveal anything that should change the contents of your bags / boxes - beyond what is in the routebook (e.g when rope sections / caving take place). We will post a notice at registration as to the decision on where the paddle will start.
Can you write your team name and number on all of your maps.

News update 30th May

Well hopefully you all have your maps.. sorry to the guys in France - UPS didn't perform :-( expensive as well. We are getting questions coming in and we are getting through them. Nicki and I will get back to you tomorrow if you have not heard from us alread.

The live website is online live.adidas-ar.com email your friends, call the town crier, tweet till you are deaf and post a link on Facebook and tell the world. Big Brother adventure race style - friends and family can follow you, as you make your way across the map.

We sent out a schematic of the event to Team Captains earlier in the week. We have tweaked it a little and posted it here. The changes are the locations have been added and for the shortest course we have made 2 controls on the Malham stage mandatory - 8 and 13 on your maps. They should be orange (mandatory) not blue (optional).

Local team Castleberg Outdoors - Jill Eccleston has helped us put together a fact sheet on Settle, you can find this here.

News update 29th May

Big trip to the post office today for Nicki - you should all have your maps tomorrow. Needless to say the river we intend to use on this event is a little low. Andy and Dave paddled all of it on Monday and had a great day out. Few points..

- If the river levels stay as they are, helmets are not required. We will advise at the briefing
- Andy recommends that competitors don't use wooden paddles.

Please check back tomorrow.

News update 28th May

Very nice weather, well you all ought to be praying that its going to pee down with rain otherwise you are going to be taking your boats for a very long walk.

Actually that is not entirely true, we do have some contingencies which don't involve doing laps of a pond.

Distances

On that note distances. Few thoughts here, don't get too hung up on distances - without you knowing what kind of ground you will be crossing its a bit of a nonsense knowing the distances involved. A trek along a disused railway line is completely different to bog hopping experience across featureless moorland at night.

This is even more exaggerated on the bike - where speeds on the road are vastly different from pushing a bike over a fell. Must admit we don't like pushing bikes so don't expect to see much of that.

But suffice to say next week you will see the maps and its important for you to know that we may change what is deemed the long course - perhaps to make it shorter. Weather can affect speeds by as much as 20% perhaps more. And we would like you all at the finish line by Monday lunchtime.

Your teams captains will have been emailed a schematic of the event to help with the event planning.

Controls

We are now in the process of putting out the controls. It would not be in the spirit of the event to go recceing after you have recieved the maps. This is really important for some sections we have secured special permissions - it be pretty easy to blow that out of the water by someone JUST going to have a quick look before the weekend. So please don't..

Maps

A few people have asked if they can collect the maps by hand rather than us posting them. No problem - can be collected from our office on Wednesday morning - let us know if you don't want them posted.

Biographies and medicals

We have had half the team biographies in.. really keen to have them all in by end of play tomorrow. We are expecting quite a number of people to spend time on the website.. and they will want to know about you.

Likewise really need all of those medicals completed by Wednesday. You can see who the culprits are on the entry list as they won't have an (M) next to their name.

Live Website

Our plan is put up a version of the live website this Wednesday (maybe Thursday), it will have route maps, stage profiles and details about each team. It won't quite the same as what will go up on the weekend as we will be taking out some of the text on the special stages. Needless to say we think its worth telling your friends and family about.

Distances 25th May

The short route distance is 200km with 4,800m ascent and the long route distance has been increased to 310km with 8,800m ascent.

Kit 21st May

Few updates on kit.

Just checking you got yesterdays update on the caving
We will be providing one socket (numbered) per team for charging lights at the overnight transitions
The emergency phones need to be sealed at the start (not registration). We will put these in a sealed bag but we recommend that this in turn is put in a waterproof bag.
Kit / Boats etc need to be handed in on the camping / parking field in Settle. Timetable updated but needs to be done between 6 and 7 on Saturday morning. We recommend you arrive early otherwise you may get in a fluster getting on the coach. There will be two sets of scales - one for the marshalls to use before loading, and a 2nd set for competitors to check weight before submitting bags. These will be available the night before.
Bouyancy aids / paddles - if you have hired these they will be with your hire boats. Any teams found meddling / swapping kit with other teams will be shot... ok maybe not but please don't. We will post a definative list of who has hired what early next week.
If you are providing your own bouyancy aid, please collect a spare tyrek strap from registration and affix this to your bouyancy with your team number.

Registration 20th May

All team members must sign the event registration sheet and have an SI Card strapped to their wrist prior to departing Settle. For those arriving after the close of registration at 20:30 on Friday night, registration will be available at 6:30am on Saturday morning for 15 mins at the campsite.

For this event SI-6 Cards are required and will be available to hire at registration, if required. For a control to count all team members, without exception, must punch/dib the control. During the event please protect your SI Cards as the tips can snap when bashed against a hard surface and are costly to replace. We'll provide a spare SI Card for use in emergencies and loses should be reported at download. Teams are repsonsible for the safe keeping and return of hired SI Cards and trackers.

PS The event WILL involve a caving section. You need full arm / leg covering for this section, we would recommend cheap or old waterproofs. Unfortunately this is within a stage and you will not have access to kit bags.

Bio-Security 15th May

For this event we have engaged the local rivers trust and they are working with us to ensure that we don't unwittingly cause any environmental problems.

The processes we will go through here are common in many international events, in many ways the UK is a little behind the times.

Please don't pay lip service to what we are asking you to do - we are using areas that few people have had permission to use and we would really like to use this as a case study on how events like this can work in this environment.

James Thurlow (Event Director)

Please note that there will be biosecurity measures in place for invasive non-native species AT this event.

The race route will pass through some high risk areas and you will come into contact with and potentially transfer some undesirables such as American signal crayfish, crayfish plague, floating pennywort and New Zealand pigmyweed.

These plants and animals can be transferred through drops of water and fragments. They can have huge detrimental implications if they 'hitchhike' on your equipment. They can outcompete and kill native species, block waterways for recreational use and exaserbate the risks of flooding.

In order to help prevent this:

BEFORE:

You must ensure ALL your kit is clean and dry before arriving at the registration site. You may unknowingly be carrying hitchhikers from your home area.

DURING:

During the registration phase you will be required to visit the 'Biosecurity Cleaning Station' in order to clean and decontaminate your trainers and canoes. Canoes will also be cleaned at the get out location by the Bisecurity Team.

AFTER:

On completion of the event, you will need to re-visit the Biosecurity Cleaning Station to clean and decontaminate your trainers. Please ensure that all canoe PPE and bike equipment is thoughly dried before being used at your next location to kill any undesirable hitchhiker species.

Canoeing and Transitions 15th May

Canoes

You will not have access to canoes until after the start of the event. PFDs, paddles, portage trolleys and your team kit bag will be transported separately to the start of the canoe stage. We will do our best to avoid damage to canoe paddles, but we would strongly advise that they are stored in a suitable protective container e.g paddle bag. If you are bringing your own canoes then these will be transported to the start of the canoe stage.

The canoe stage of this event takes place on a river. The early part of the river is quite shallow in places. You should by now have gained the skills to be able to assess whitewater river conditions and in particular shallow water. Please get out of the canoe before making contact with the river bed and pull the canoe along until deeper water is reached - you should not be paddling in water shallower than 7cm. Our canoe provider is adamant that any damage to canoes will incur a cost and these costs will be passed on where the damage could have been avoided. There is a 2km portage section on this event and the easiest way to avoid damage to canoes is to use a portage trolley.

To give you an idea on costs

Minor scuffs	Part of hire cost	£0
Large Scrape		£30
Scrape through to White		£80
Dint in Bow or Stern		£80
Broken Seat		£100
Broken Thwart		£50
Boat Lost		£1,000
Other Damage	At Discresion Dependant on damage
Boat Wrapped		£1,000

An example of a boat being wrapped is where it is manovered broadside on to a bridge pillar. The force of the water breaks the boat wrapping it around the pillar.

Transitions

Some of the transitions on this event are very basic, with no facilities. If your team needs to sleep, then it is your responsibility to provide shelter (e.g. tent, bivi bag etc). Any indoor space is to be used solely for race control and providing refreshments should be ; if space is available for you to sort kit out then you will be able to use this - the control description booklet will highlight this. You won't be able to sleep in any building/gazebo used at transitions, anyone found sleeping in these shelters will be woken up - if told twice a penalty will be imposed. We will provide hot drinks (where possible) and water at transitions.

Distances 15th May

The short route distance is 200km with 4,800m ascent and the long route distance is 300km with 7,700m ascent.