Administrivia:

Please forward this email on to your teammates. They may not have received it, as not all email addresses were entered upon registration. As such, anybody that gets forwarded this email should let your captain know so they can update your registration.

If you received this email and you are no longer racing, please send me an email and I'll remove you from the list.

You should all now have my email address as well as the email addresses of the rest of Race Management.


Canoes and Outfitters:

Please refer to the RD Blogs here for background:
http://www.atomicar.com/index.php/rd-blog/164-canoe-rentals
http://www.atomicar.com/index.php/rd-blog/169-canoe-outfitters

This year, you will need to bring your own canoes.  You may bring whatever type of canoe you wish, so long as it can float your team and gear.  We are strongly advising you to bring a plastic, royalex, or strong aluminum boat.  If you bring a fiberglass, kevlar, or thin aluminum boat, there is a high likelihood they will be damaged during the race. 

A big bummer this year, we could not reach an agreement with a canoe outfitter to work with us to be our official outfitter and get you guys some discounts and transportation for the canoe.  This means in all likelihood you'll have to pick up and drop off the canoe you rent yourself.  We wanted to avoid this for the folks that are renting, but failed at doing so.  We have posted all of the local outfitters in the area on the Canoe Outfitters page.  If you require a rental and have not done so, please go ahead and do it.  These guys are generally sold out in May.


Accommodations Update:

Please refer to the Atomic AR race forum post here for background:
http://www.atomicar.com/index.php/rd-blog/166-hope-you-enjoy-your-stay

The hotel at Amicalola is generally fully booked during May (not talking about the hike-in lodge, which is a 5 mile hike to/from). This is THE Amicalola Lodge, so this is a good opportunity to live large if you haven't booked your place to stay. They are requiring a 2 night minimum stay, as this is their prime season.  Here's the lodge:
http://gastateparks.org/net/content/image.aspx?imageid=69418&s=64.0.9.5

Reservations for any of the in-park accommodations, including the Lodge, may be made here:
http://gastateparks.org/info/amicalola/

There are several other places to stay, all listed on the Accommodations page in the main menu.


RD Blog:

In case you haven't noticed, we've been using an RD Blog to let racers get to know who we are and how we think. Experienced racers know that it's important to know the RD's style. Since we're relatively new on the race production scene, we thought it would be a good idea so you guys can get to know the mindset. It's all here:
http://www.atomicar.com/index.php/rd-blog

and here's a post about just that on the Atomic AR forum:
http://www.trailblazerar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7129

RSS Feed:

The RSS Feed for the Atomic AR has changed!  Last year, we had two feeds--one for the website and one for the live coverage.  The new one, which includes far more items (videos, photos, blogs, audio, website, and live coverage), is located here:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/AtomicAdventureRaceFeedMix

Note:  The initial download of the above RSS feed items will be out of order.  But from now on, they will come in as they are published.

So you can get all the new articles as they come out on the site, or just check at the above location to see the latest posts to ensure you don't miss anything. Note this will not include forum discussions. The Atomic AR forum is here:
http://www.trailblazerar.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=36

This will be the backup feed for live coverage if for some reason RDBoard.com goes down.  More on this later.


Race Coverage:

Team ROC Gear/4LPH4 1337 claims to be the most technologically advanced team out there. As such, we're gonna do our best to provide some of the best live media coverage for a day race around. We'll likely be focusing on chosen teams throughout the race for one reason or another (think Eco-Challenge, but to a smaller scale). If you would like to send us a team profile, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

More on where to send your friends/family on tracking your progress during the race later, but we'll be using RDBoard.com, a new live race tracking platform created specifically for the Atomic Adventure Race but available to other race promoters as well.


Gear List:

Few points on the gear list.

UTM Plotter/Grid/Ruler:

Maps will not be pre-plotted, and this is mandatory gear on the course for a reason. If you do not know how to plot UTM coordinates, you should take a look at this FAQ item:
http://www.atomicar.com/index.php/faq/42-im-new-to-adventure-racing-what-should-i-do-to-prepare-for-the-atomic-adventure-race

Strobe/Flare Required Gear:

Please refer to the Atomic AR race forum post here for background:
http://www.trailblazerar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6233

If you have any questions about the Flare/Strobe requirement, please see the comments on the above post and add to your questions to the thread. If you don't have one of these items, please go shopping now--it's not something you want to search for day you are driving to the race.

Gear Drop:

On the recommended team gear list, there is mention of a gear drop.  This will be explained further later, but you are not responsible for transporting any gear yourselves.  The stretch bags we mention are these, and we'll likely be using the Odor Shield variant.  :)

Schedule Update:

We had to move the start time of the race to 7am from 8am.  We did not want to as we like to give you guys a little more sleep before the race, but it was unavoidable.  Our reasoning was to enable more of you to clear the course (see Setting Expectations below).

There have been some additional questions about the race length.  Our goal is to design a course whereby most teams that finish spend around 24 hours in motion.  For planning purposes, respect the race cutoff timing on the schedule.  More on this later.

Setting Expectations:

Last year, we were accurate in our predictions--33% cleared the course and roughly 66% (including those clearing it) reach the finish line.  This year, we expect 25%-40% of the field to clear the course, but have no predictions on the number of finishing teams.

For the rest of the field, there is one cutoff and it is relatively early in the race.  In 2009, failing to make a cutoff meant being labeled "Unofficial" and put on an alternate course to catch the team up.  This year, missing the cutoff will mean your team becomes part of race staff for a bit, loading gear and whatnot until you can be returned to the park (at least 4 hours later given the race plan), and will be DNF'ed. 

On the bright side, we will give time estimates for waypoints up until the cutoff, so that you can know roughly whether or not you are on track to make it.  By race date, we will have vetted this section more than any other (4 times already to date), so the estimates will be accurate.  There will be a shorter variant of the first leg as well, which allows for teams to catch up at the cost of not clearing the course.  I predict most teams that do not clear the course will not do so out of necessity of making the first cutoff.  As such, expect to race very hard during the first section of the race if you are on the cusp of the 25-40% that we expect to clear it.

The rules allow for some strategy for teams to remain official, but it will require making some tough decisions. This will be explained more at the prerace meeting. Familiarize yourself with the rules of ranking and the mindset behind it now:

Rules on Ranking:
http://www.atomicar.com/index.php/rules#TeamRankings

Mindset:
http://www.atomicar.com/index.php/rd-blog/38-ranking-teams


Speaking of rules, now would be a good time to go ahead and hit the hotspots. We've made an admittedly long set of rules that are general to the race, in order to provide racers with some expectations on how rulings will be made so that there is no guesswork. These rules deal with penalties, withdrawals, and the ever-discussed lost/missing/misplaced CPs topic, among other things. Rules that are specific to the race course will be distributed with the maps at registration on Friday night. So here are the general ones:

http://www.atomicar.com/index.php/rules


Maps:

When the question of "are outside maps allowed"? If the answer is "no" it's usually followed up with some nonsense about how the RD's map is the best there is and so there's no reason for an outside map and that's why they are not allowing it blah blah blah. This doesn't make much sense. Here's our stance: if you think an outside map will help you, bring it. It'll weigh you down. We've been scouring the world of cartography for 8 months now and have combined 6 maps and a bunch of our own scouting into one set, and we're confident that bringing an outside map will be a disadvantage to teams. Thus, we don't have to spend time thinking about how to enforce such a rule:

Viola:
http://www.atomicar.com/index.php/rd-blog/57-the-role-cartography-plays

And because there are so many map enthusiasts out there, we're offering extra copies to those who want a set. These are $25 per set, and include only the maps that are not generally available (the course maps may include supplemental maps that are not included in the extra map set).  Note: They will be paid for at registration, but handed out AFTER the race. Teams will have only 1 set during the race.

These need to be pre-ordered, so if you want an extra set of maps, please update your registration information to include the number you wish to purchase.

Checkpoint Tracker Series:

For background, see the following:
http://blog.checkpointtracker.com/2010/01/20/new-requirement-for-earning-points-and-being-ranked/

If you are interested in the series and receivings points for your placing at the Atomic Adventure Race, please ensure you complete you team and squad profiles on the website, else you will not receive credit for your performance!

Also, the points leader in the Coed Elite Division at the end of May will be awarded complimentary entries...including airfare...to the Ultimate XC for 3 racers.  The Atomic Adventure Race presented by Fuji Bikes is one of the opportunities for leading teams to sure up their position and capture this mid-year prize! The Ultimate XC is an innovative 3 day stage race set for June 25th at the world reknowned Mont Tremblant Ski Resort in Quebec Canada. Competitors will be Kayaking 62km on Day 1, Running 58km on Day 2 and Mountain Biking 80km on Day 3. It is the largest off-road stage race in North America with over 1,100 racers attending.

USARA Series:

For a background on this, please see:
http://www.usara.com/qualifiers.aspx

If interested in accruing points for this series, be sure to register your team:
http://www.usara.com/teams/login.aspx

This year's Atomic Adventure Race presented by Fuji Bikes is a USARA National Qualifier.  The winning team will receive a $400 sponsorship towards the USARA National Championship Race and Soloman jackets.


Sponsors and Partners:

If you haven't seen our sponsor list yet, here it is:
http://www.atomicar.com/index.php/sponsors

The lineup has changed a bit this year.   We are welcoming Gold Sponsor Tri All 3 Sports and Silver Sponsor Outdoor Technology, and are rejoined by the majority of sponsors from last year.  Gold Sponsor Hammer Nutrition is offering discounted purchases to Atomic AR participants:
http://www.atomicar.com/index.php/rd-blog/172-hammer-nutrition-once-again-fueling-the-atomic-ar

And race production partner Pura Vida Adventures as well:
http://www.atomicar.com/index.php/rd-blog/170-pura-vida-adventures-partners-with-the-atomic-adventure-race

We have a great set of sponsors, and they are really showing their support for the AR community (especially given last year). So please give them you attention and gratitude. As mentioned above, some are offering prerace discounts as well, so check out the list.



That's it for now, I know this is a big update, but needed to catch everyone up. Hopefully they'll shorten as we get closer to the race. Any questions/comments you have, please feel free to post them to the race forum. Can't wait to see you guys out there!