Note from VT50 Race Director Mike-Mtn Bikers, Relay Teams

Race Waves 
What are they and Why? 

From our timing company

“I have a Penalty field set up for this year so just let me know if it will be 10:00 or some other number for leaving in an earlier wave than designated. Note that the system should handle 99% of the starters perfectly but no chip system is 100% (yet), so staging everyone correctly is very important. The WAVE number will be on every bib now on the label, so if you have strong people announcing this and making sure everyone looks at their bib and knows they have to go in the right wave or a later wave or get a penalty, that should lessen the abuse a lot.

 There were more than a dozen who went early last year.

 Race Information Changes-Things are pretty much etched in stone now.
Over the past several months we had asked for any changes to your information. This was to make sure we had it correctly stated in our database. This also gave us information we used to order our plate numbers, which are also color coated for your category and wave start.

That said at this point no more changes to your category are being accepted…Expert, Sport and Novice. This will allow us to really monitor who started when. This will also help you know when to start race morning.

The BIG orange sign stating which wave is back for dark morning hours. Between the wave number on the plate, the Big sign and the PA announcements we hope this will help organize the usually confusing start. Please understand we put a lot of effort to this.

Also remember each wave is compensated for the time they start. So you do NOT lose time.

IF YOU WANT TO START WITH A FRIEND WHO IS STARTING LATER YOU MAY. UNDERSTAND YOU WILL ACCEPT LOSING YOUR OVERALL TIME.

BUT your friend cannot start ahead with out accepting the 20-minute time penalty and the added correct wave start time.

I know MOST of you are out for the ride and this may seem “harsh” and “why”… but for those who are competing, we hope we are improving our end of the day results. If you only knew how many emails I receive telling me who started before they were suppose to. Lets just enjoy the day and ride some of the most beautiful trails in VT.

Just to let you know how important it is to start in the correct wave.

As stated on our Entrants page:

If you start in a wave ahead of your designated wave/category/age group, your start time will be moved back to the wave time you were classified in and an additional 20 minutes will be added to your finishing time. Your time starts when the chip in your Bib/Plaque crosses the timing mat.

The race cut off time for everyone is 6:30 p.m.

Relay Runners
One Bib per Team, One Car per Team

Please visit our web page at https://vt50relay.blogspot.com/ for more information.

BUT I wanted tell you that only one bib will be chipped and you have to pass it to each member that is running a leg. There will be extra bibs at the finish if you want one to bring home.

Also there will be a tag for the post race BBQ on each bib.

Each team will need a single car pass to be at the aid station to exchange runners. This pass will be available at packet pick up by the information table.

Please be sure to coordinate this with your team mates.

Remember only one runner from each team is allowed to be on course at a time.
On car per Relay Team.

Thanks,
Mike S. and The Race Committee