Pre-Race Letter Hey Coyote Kids! Happy Thanksgiving! First, thank you so much for deciding to come over to Louisiana (or just over to Chicot for you locals), and playing, and running, and eating, and drinking, and having fun with us! We are truly honored to have you and know you will have a great time in a great state and on a great trail! So here is the Coyote info email i promised…i am trying to cover ALL the angles. E-mail me if there is something you are wondering about that i DO NOT cover HERE (please read the whole e-mail). If you ask me a question that i have already answered here then i will chase you down and brand your back with the Cajun Coyote logo! :) And your momma or teachers always said that there are no stupid questions…they were wrong! Its only stupid if i already covered it here… Here we go. BASIC INFO: Basic Information: 100M, 100K and 20M* single track loop trail around the lake at Chicot State Park, Ville Platte, Louisiana. Dec 7TH & 8TH 2013, 6:15AM Start for 100M/100K, 9AM Start for 20M. 30 hour limit for 100M, with final lap cutoff near 2nd dawn. There is a 18 hour limit for the 100k. 225 entrant limit across all three distances, max 100 for the 100M, 50 for 100K and 75 for 20M. (If one field doesn’t fill before one week before Registration closes, spaces will be added to the other distances if folks are still chomping to get in.) FOUR aid stations in the loop (one of them is start/finish), with food and fluids intended to help you make progress toward the Finish. (How much you divert from your focused goal, because of all the entertainment opportunities (‘gator wrestlin’?), we take no responsibility for…) (* Our standards of accuracy far exceed the most anal measurement you could hope to avoid from a world championship / USATF road venue. If after you finish, you aren’t satisfied with your mileage, feel free to grab more dirt. Final analysis: it’s your logbook…) VOLUNTEERS We have a fine staff of unpaid professional wrestlers… oh, no, wait, we’re all volunteer yahoo’s… any who, just remember, sucking up to Volunteers, especially in a multiple loop venue, can only improve odds of having richer support each succeeding lap. You first timers or veterans to trail running MUST know that an event like this COULD NOT happen without volunteers. Go ahead and thank the volunteers beforehand and while youre participating. You may never know, you may need them to pop a blister for ya, hide all reflective materials in site so you cant see what kind of shape youre in, wipe the droll off your chin at mile 90, or even tell you NOT to sit down over and over again so you will continue. All kidding aside, VOLUNTEERS ARE THE LIFEBLOOD OF AN EVENT LIKE THIS. Aid Stations: Three stations besides the Start/Finish, all reasonably spaced at roughly mile 4, 9, 16, 20 (S/F) around the lake so you won’t have to camel up unreasonably. Weather-dependent, you may need only one water bottle between stations. Whether you bring knife & spork for consumption of solids will be your decision. The Aid Stations will be headed up by: AS/1 - Edie Riedel and the Mud N Guts Trail Running Tribe- These folks are locals, who frequently run the Chicot trail, and trail races & ultras all over the country. They have also been doing this A/S for years. A/S 2 - The FORGE Racing Crew- These kids are trail and trail ultra runners, they love drinking and sharing beer, and have been doing this A/S for years. A/S 3 - Mark Wieneke and a crew of tip top trail and ultra trail runners. If you dont know Mark, then get to know him. He is responsible for the birth and life of trail ultras all over the country including the Cajun Coyote. The Cajun is honored to have Mark with us. And finally A/S 4 - S/F - Will be brought to you by FORGE Racing. We will hover over your drop bags and keep them safe as well as…well,youll see. :) -Each aid station will be stocked with, but not limited to, Hammer Nutrition products such as Lemon-Lime Heed, Hammer Gels: Huckleberry, Espresso, Apple Cinnamon, Banana, & Orange, Endurolytes (salt caps), CLIF strawberry shot bloks, mini original peanut butter bars, CLIF Builders bars in peanut butter & mint, water, real ginger ale, Coke, Sprite, beer, hot chocolate, chicken broth, ramen, boiled potatoes & salt for dipping, pb&j sandwiches, chocolate candy, other candy…chips, pretzels, crackers etc. each aid station may or may not be preparing (made to order) special things such as burritos, quesadillas, grilled cheese, rice, home made soup, home made cookies, brownies. Each A/S will have its own specialty. Course Markings: Trees and other similarly visible reference points are painted with vertical orange painted blazes. Only at areas where those blazes don’t exist – e.g., from the Start/Finish area to the trail itself – we’ll provide markings / orange hanging tape to prevent your getting off course. There ARE other trails with different color blazes (e.g., blue), so if you find yourself on a trail with a different color blaze, guess where you AREN’T… (More than a couple of you reading this can’t wait for the challenge of proving you can get lost…) On-Course Accountability: With a fairly simple course to manage, that means we’ll also have a fairly simple communications system (hovering helo’s & video feed? nah…). And with that simplicity, OUR agenda for YOU is also fairly simple: just insure you have checked in at each aid station – don’t just blow into town and expect someone to recognize your presence; YOU must engage THEM. Failure to do so, especially across consecutive stations, could mean you lose official recognition of your miles and may not win some nifty prize for all those (now unofficial) miles on your logbook. Too, if your motivation fades to just a fog and you would rather just curl up with a pillow somewhere else, let the station honcho know of your departure from the game. Go back to the S/F and replenish your body… LOGISTICS Packet Pickup / Check-In: We hope most of you will take advantage of Friday night dinner, the more convenient for both you and us to gather/unload goodie bags. The pre-race meal/ packet pick up will be at 6PM at the S/F Pavilion (Pavilon #1) . If you can’t join us Friday night, you’ll get your packet when you check in before you start. Check-in will open Saturday as close to 5AM as we can feasibly arrange. (The gate to the Park probably won’t be open much before that, so you may be queueing up just to gain entrance, but we’ll work to make sure that access doesn’t affect Start time.) If you are already within the park…well then you will have no problems. 20 Milers can come as early on Saturday morning as you like (or Friday night if you are attending the meal)…just no later than 8:15 AM Saturday because we want to get the pre-race meeting and pre-race beer drinking started on time! Your race begins at 9:00. ALL runners must check in before starting, so that we have full accountability for starters, not just those who snatched up their goodie bags and drifted elsewhere for the weekend. Your race numbers will be applied with permanent marker on a very visible spot. Past years people have chosen the forehead…seriously! You MUST hand sign the race waiver at packet pick up BEFORE you start running or you will be removed from the course. Crew / Drop Bags / Pacers: To keep our overall impact visibly marginal in the Park, crews (…you really need one for this simple a venue? Why not rope ‘em into running, too!) will only be permitted at the Start/Finish. Drop bags fall into the same category, with the added logic that we’ll need available space in aid station vehicles to get supplies out on the course, without burdening them with a bunch of odd-looking, smelly, sweaty bags. If you can’t make 20 miles w/o access to your favorite, good luck teddy bear somewhere besides the S/F, consider putting the little critter on your back. Pacers will be allowed only for the 100M, and not joining her/his wasted runner until s/he/it has found the end of the 3rd loop (60 miles). Pacers MAY NOT mule or a sherpa for the runner, and as a pacer, you ought to remember it’s all about your runner, not you… If you as Pacer are found roaming too far from your runner to be of real support, we may ask you to leave the course… ***THIS IS HUGE ! LITTERING IS IGNORANT ! I hope you agree. FORGE Racing respects its race venues and YOU WILL too. PLEASE do not throw gu wrappers or anything else on the trail. Please carry your trash out with you and throw it away at an aid station (vomit and excrement do not apply…try to do that off the trail for sake of the other runners). I AM SERIOUS WHEN I SAY THIS: If you are trashing up the Coyote course you WILL be asked to leave the race immediately and will not be permitted to come back. YOU WILL ALSO have your name out there…as a race course trasher. LODGING: You can certainly search on your own, but consider these (and since some websites shift like quicksand, visit the parent company’s website and search for the city): Ville Platte, 10 miles from the Park: Best Western Opelousas, 30 miles from the S/F: Holiday Inn, Comfort Inn, or Super 8 Alexandria, 48 miles from the S/F: Best Western or La Quinta We have a cabin reserved and many of you have contacted me pertaining to wanting a space…youre in! There is plenty of space left for any others wanting to go to winter camp with us!!!! The cabin is called a group camp which means it is a few cabins full of bunk beds, has 1 full bathroom & kitchen. The kitchen has pots and pans etc., but YOU MUST BRING YOUR OWN TOWELS, LINENS AND PILLOWS. I find a sleeping bag is easy in these situations. You will be sharing these cabins with MANY others. The cabin IS within the park. Take a look at the Cajun Coyote web page for the map of the park with respective group camp and start/finish pavilion location. forgeracing.files.wordpress/2012/09/cajun-coyote-chicot-state-park-map.jpg Beds will rent for $15 PER NIGHT, PER PERSON. I have the cabin Fri & Sat night. PLEASE honor your fee for staying at the cabin by paying me Friday night or when you arrive Saturday AM. I will remind you. Cash or check are fine...For you more independent-minded adventurers, consider hanging out in the Park (which means you’ll want to either stove your own food or plan to drive to Ville Platte or Opelousas). Check out the Chicot State Park web site in case you may want to see what else is available in the park itself (camping, other cabins, etc). LOUISIANA WEATHER: The answer is: I dont know. This time of year in Louisiana can be muggy, hot, and humid, or in the wet 30s. The weather may even change in a few hours (most definitely from hot to cold) this time of year. My suggestion is to bring BOTH hot and cool weather running clothes. Its obviously better to shed or not use, then to wonder why the F you left your other gear in your closet. Also keep checking the weather because we know meteorologists are always right! Bahahahahaha Well thats all for now. Cant wait to meet you and play in the woods with all you dirty kids. Im sure with your responses and with me re-reading what is sent, that there will be a subsequent email. Start packing those bags! Cheers, Dirty Boy
Posted on: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 12:17:18 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015