Discussion: Important update

If you have already registered you should have received this information in an email.

Due to a series of serious accidents at the Letchworth State Park in recent months, the Park Management has at the last moment requested that we restrict this year's ReGaine to very specific and strict time limits for safety purposes. In a nutshell, we won't be allowing runners on the course from the hours of 10pm Sat to 5am Sunday - i.e., no night navigating.

In an effort to maintain the integrity and uniqueness of this specialized long distance event, the organizers have decided upon the following "modifications" from the standard (and previously posted) rules and schedule for the 2016 ReGaine;

- MOST IMPORTANT! - The official mass start time is now moved up to 10am Saturday, Aug. 20.
- In order to maintain a "24 hr" event, this means the official ending of event now will be 10 am Sun.
- A mandatory pre-race meeting of all competitors will be at 9:25 am Sat. with map distribution at 9:30 am.
- Packet pick-up times are scheduled for 4pm to 10pm Fri evening and again from 7am to 9am Sat. morning at the Base Camp.
- Base Camp still remains the Old Nunda R&G at the corner of River and Dygert Rds. (42.604029, -77.98477)

With these time restrictions/changes we have also decided to modify some rules slightly from the norm to be able to maximize competitor "possible run time". The most obvious of these are:
- Instead of the standard dividing of the 24 hr event period into 4 segments, with each segment then further divided into a run stage & rest stage, this year's event will use 3 segments, each also consisting of a run stage & rest stage, with a mandatory break between the hours of 10pm Sat to 5am Sun.
- The allowable times which can be utilized in any stage for this year's event will be modified to be one each of a 6hr, 5hr, 4hr, 3hr, 2hr, or 1hr time limit. As previously, the competitor has the choice as to which stage and when they assign each of these time limits.
- The Overtime Penalties for not returning to Base Camp in their pre-decided time limit for each run stage will now be 40 points/minute OVT subtracted from the overall score.
- Anyone overtime by more than 30 minutes on ANY run stage will automatically be DSQ'ed and will not be allowed to continue with the event.

All other rules regarding Segment and Stage use (i.e., no doing back to back run stages, no changing stage times once declared, etc.) are still in affect. A complete and concise (?) listing of all the rules for this year's event will be available in each competitor's meet packets.

The ReGaine 2016 Organizers

Do the chosen time segments have to add up to exactly fit the two time windows or can you have rest or run stages that extend past 10pm or start before 5am as long as you aren't in the woods between 10pm and 5am? For example, if you use your 1 hour rest on Sat, could you pair a 2 hour rest starting at 4am with a 4 hour run starting at 6am on Sun?

Also, I assume that 10pm-5am counts as a rest stage, so you could potentially run until 10pm and then start again at 5am...?

Adding the times for all 6 stages gives a total of 21 hours, but the event is still stated to last 24 hours, leaving 3 hours that are not part of any stage. But those 3 hours can't be the mandatory 10 pm - 5 am rest period because that's 7 hours. I'm confused how everything fits together.

Subject to how the preceding is sorted, it would now be mandatory to have a back to back rest because of the mandatory rest period being 7 consecutive hours and the longest stage being 6 hours (assuming people aren't using all or part of a run stage during the break). Then to stay within the rule of no back to back runs, everyone would be required to start with a run and end with a run. Also, it would be mandatory to have one of the three rest stages during the day on Saturday, which means no rest stages would be available on Sunday once the back to back rest is completed (I guess the reason for the 10 am end time?). It kind of sounds as if the change from 4 segments to 3 segments could reduce the flexibility as much as, or more than, the 10-5 mandatory break from 10-5.

Yes, you can have any stage time limit "continue" into the mandatory break (or even "start" prior to it's end) - you just have to be in Base during those times set by the park - sitting; or sleeping, as the case may be.

Yes, the mandatory 7 hour rest counts as a rest and allows you to start again at 5AM if you ended at 10PM. This 7 hour rest is consuming 4 hours of the run/rest stages and adding in another 3 hours to make it a 24 hour event.

One of the objectives w/ this particular event has always been to have the competitors be as "creative" as possible within the rules (limits) set down for them. i.e., there's nothing that says you have to use ALL the stage time limits available.

You also get more time with the map, so people shouldn't find the need to start with a rest stage this year.

Thanks. With the 7 hr. break including that extra 3 hours, it does retain flexibility.

Why would anyone want to not start and end with a run? Would there be any point to starting a race by resting, or resting at the end instead of just finishing?

Weather? or perhaps more time is needed to plan? I would not start with a rest, but have always opted to rest back to back at night, leaving me with a finish on foot at hour 24.

Many years only about 10 minutes advance planning time has been available before the first start, and quite a few times people have used an initial hour of planning time for a first 5-hour segement.

I see only four ways to use the full 15 hours available:

Saturday - 6 then 5; Sunday - 4
Saturday - 5 then 6; Sunday - 4
Saturday - 4 then 6; Sunday - 5
Saturday - 6 then 4; Sunday - 5

For the last two, the rest on Saturday could be either 1 or 2 hours, so I guess that's 6 ways.

Yep, the intention was decrease the variables and make it easier to find people if we need to. The park has had a rough summer and we want to do everything to follow their guidelines. They have been great to deal with, orienteering is lucky to have a park like Letchworth.

Entry to REGAINE XII via e-mail is now closed.

How did the meet go? Any results?

Excellent venue and map with challenging control locations and unlimited route choices. You should have come down!