2022 Competitor newsletter #2

Expedition Oregon

America’s Toughest Race

Hello all!!

It’s hard to believe that we are less than two months away from Expedition Oregon!! With this awesome spring weather we are getting, it is feeling right around the corner. However, we are still hoping for a few more big snow storms to come our way as it will make the whitewater section even more exciting!

In this update you will find a lot of new information. Please share it with your team and have everyone read it and fill out the team form.

RACE MEDIA COLLATERAL and SPONSOR Partnership announcements

Team Pictures:

By April 1st we would like to be able to start posting about you and YOUR TEAM! So please format us a picture with all four of your members in this way. If you happen to have a team shot with all four of you, that will do as well! There are lots of free collage makers. We’ve tested photo-funny.net and photocollage.com. Don’t worry if there is a small watermark on the image you create.

Also remember to create a brief bio/goals/team statement and add it when you fill out the team form.

Social Media asks:

As soon as possible we would like to re-awaken our dedicated @americastoughestraces instagram page with all of your posts about how you are training and preparing! Please, as you find yourself training and testing gear, tag the following instagram pages and use the #’s so we can be sure to reshare on our end. In some of your posts, if you could talk about how excited you are to come to Bend and race and explore, that would be so great for our main sponsor and supporter this year: Visit Bend.

@americastoughestraces

@bendracing

@visitbend

#ATR2022 #EO2022 #Roambetterbend #bendsustainablityfund

Beads of Courage

This year, we are so excited to be working with the nonprofit Beads of Courage. BOC helps kids with cancer share their journey and cope with their illness through beads. For every blood poke, hair loss and more, they get a bead. Pretty soon, some kids have long necklaces to show what they have gone through. For our race, it will be mandatory gear for every racer to carry a bead with them for the entire course. At the finish line, you will then turn in your bead along with your passport to us. If you wish, you can write some words of encouragement on the card it comes with. We will then send these beads to the BOC headquarters and they will distribute them to kids world wide. These kids will have a special bead that was carried by you throughout the race that will help to give them strength and courage! If you wish to make a donation, at check in, we will be asking for suggested donation of 5$ to BOC. If you want to read more about Beads of Courage, please go to: www.beadsofcourage.org.

Jersey News!

After a few too many races where the race jerseys were either making us WAY too cold or WAY too hot, we have come up with an alternative we hope you all will like. You can create your own race shirt during check in!

This is not required, but an option for teams to create up to 2 “team uniforms” that can be worn in lieu of the traditional bib as long as it is the outermost layer. We have heat press logos that will be pressed onto your choice of shirts. These will include the ARWS logo, Expedition Oregon logo, ATR logo, and your team #. This will allow you to essentially do most of the race in a performance shirt with no bib on - as long as the following rules are met:

Team uniform shirts must be identical colors.

Each team may choose to make two sets of shirts, these can be different (ie one long sleeve, one short sleeve, etc).

Shirts may not have other logos on them (other than small shirt brand logos), with the exception of the left arm/shoulder. Brand/sponsor logos are allowed here.

Dark colors (black, brown, dark blue, dark green, etc) are not allowed as the heat press logos are black.

Almost all Synthetic performance shirts will work for the heat press logos.

We will still have our classic jerseys that are mandatory for a team start and finish photo, and wear when it is appropriate (like over jackets).

At race check in we will have a heat press with your team number, and all of the necessary logos. In a few minutes, your whole team can press your shirts and have a custom EO race uniform!

Team Form:

We have created a team info form, please fill in all of the information needed. In it you will find a space for shin guards and ski straps (these are good for all sorts of things in AR). Shin guards come in M, L and XL and are 20$ a pair. Ski straps are $8 for long and $6 for short. Please fill that in if you want any of these and plan to pay us at check in. We’ll have these waiting for you in your bags.

If team information changes (name, members, etc), please update the form when this happens, and email us as well.

Host Hotel

If you have not yet booked your lodging, please do so as soon as possible. And if you have any questions about dates, please don’t hesitate to send us an email at teams@bendracing.com and CC Chelsey@bendracing.com

Four hour Fuel:

If you and your team would like to purchase Four Hour Fuel for Expedition Oregon (and have it waiting for you), please have your order in by April 8th. Add it to the team form. You can choose anything from the website and write it into the order form.

It will be available at race check in.

A sneak peak at CP 01

Upcoming AR talk

Chelsey is putting together a talk for all female racers (sorry dudes, next time!), if you are interested please send her an email or FB message and she will send you the zoom link! It will be on April 8th at 5 pm Pacific time.

Drumroll PLEASE…..We have some course information to share!!! Keep in mind that final course corrections may be slightly different than what is listed below.

Course Overview:

Stage and Discipline	Distance
0: Multi-sport prologue	???
1: Mountain Bike	45 miles
2: Packraft	22 miles
3: Mountain Bike	28 miles
4: Trek/climb/orienteer	10 miles
5: Mountain Bike	38 miles
6:Trek/Mountaineering/packraft	23 miles
7: Mountain Bike	12 miles
8: Trek	20 miles
9: Mountain Bike	47 miles
10: Trek/ropes/orienteer	4 miles
11: Mountain Bike	20 miles
12: Trek	20 miles
13: Packraft/Trek	20 miles
Race Total	309 miles +???

Gear Questions: We’ve received a number of team’s gear questions, and we’ve compiled a short list of the FAQ answers below:

Climbing shoes are NOT REQUIRED, however, we STRONGLY recommend bringing them if you plan to get the climbing points (unless your name is Alex Honnold). There will be a more comprehensive climbing update very soon (the ropes section is nearly finalized), but it looks like at least 1 member of the team will be required to climb to get the points, and one team member belaying them (top belay, not top-rope belay).. It will be faster with a team that has 2 climbers and 2 belayers. Climbing points will be optional (as well as all technical rope points). Chalk bag(s) also optional but recommended.

PLB. The Personal Locator Beacon is meant to be separate from the race tracking device’s Emergency SOS function. It is meant to be an independent rescue option. We’ve had many teams ask about using an inReach device instead, and we WILL ALLOW the use of the InReach mini for this purpose.

Ice traction devices. We will accept any “microspike” type of traction device as long as it has 10 points or more. “Nanospike” style devices are not adequate. But to reiterate, we will eliminate this mandatory gear if possible, but current snow levels suggest that they will likely be a necessary safety requirement.

Ice-axe will be necessary if crampons are necessary. Teams will need to demonstrate basic self-arrest skill during check-in.

Drysuit recommended, although wetsuits will be allowed. There may be multiple paddle legs where drysuits/wetsuits are not required as well.

Gloves are strongly recommended for use when belaying and on other rope sections. They are also recommended for the lava sections.

Multi-sport or climbing helmets will be required for the climbing/ropes sections. This means that at MINIMUM teams will need 1 helmet rated for climbing/ski mountaineering in order to get the climbing points. If you plan to have 2 climbers, you will need two helmets. Bike or Multisport helmets will be allowed on the WW section.

Transition Gear - we realize that no transition gear was listed on the published mandatory gear list from newsletter #1. Whoops. Teams will need 4 standard ARWS bike boxes, 2 standard HDX bins, and a paddle bag(s) big enough for the paddle gear to fit into. See next section for more info.

TRANSITION Equipment:

Bike Boxes: Each teammate will need a standard size ARWS bike box (140x80x30cm). These can be made out of corrugated plastic (most people do this), or there are several places online that sell them. Other hardshell cases are allowed as long as they are smaller or the same dimensions as per ARWS rules. Cardboard bike boxes must be reinforced with tape at all seams and are not recommended as they may not survive the race if there is bad weather.

Team Bins: Teams will have 2 bins. Expedition Oregon uses HDX 27 gallon bins as the standard. They (or similar brands) are widely available all over the country, as well as many stores in Bend (Home Depot, Walmart, Lowes). Teams must provide their own bins. Let us know if you need help sourcing them.

Paddle bags: We are allowing teams to bring their own paddle bags this year. You may bring up to 2 bags that fit all your paddle stuff. Paddles can stick out, but contents must be secured.

We will have some of the simple EO poly mesh sacks from past years if teams need a suitable bag and do not have one.

SKILLS:

During check in, teams will need to demonstrate climbing/rope skills (including rappel, top belay for those who might climb/belay and tyrolean), basic crampon and self arrest knowledge, and packraft inflation.

Final Balances:

We’ll be sending individual emails to team captains that still have a pending balance for the event. If you do not receive an email within the next week and believe you still owe a part of your entry fee, we’d appreciate you contacting us. Our more robust race staff is coming back online, and there may be a few gaps as we bring them back up to speed. Thanks!

Finally, any questions? Reach out to teams@bendracing.com, we’ll do our best to answer them.