I’m way overdue with an update on the 2021 AETR. I apologize that it is coming just three weeks out from the race, but a lot has been happening the last couple of weeks that affect the AETR. Not least, of course, is the pandemic and the ever-shifting mandates, vaccines, etc.!
But the race is on! At times it seemed like it just wouldn’t…just couldn’t…happen. I was nervous about UAF and what they would want as a mitigation plan. But they’ve been stellar to work with…makes me proud for our home town university. And there have been many people who have stepped up to help make AETR happen. Thank you to you all!
We have put together a COVID-19 Mitigation Plan, which UAF has provisionally approved.
But there are some changes to this year’s race that we need to make, in addition to what is spelled out in the COVID-19 Mitigation Plan (please read it!):
- The deadline for registration is now a little earlier, one week before the event, on Friday, May 28, at midnight. This is to accommodate the added work we’ll need to do to get everything organized in time.
- There will be no BBQ or post-race awards. It’s just far too difficult to do this safely away from a kitchen with water and ways to keep things clean and sanitary. And people shouldn’t linger after the race anyway. We’ll mail prizes the week after the event.
- We won’t have a race shirt this year. I’m really sorry about this one, but the race just didn’t come together in time to place the order. If this is the first time you’ve done the AETR and would really like a shirt, email me at don@donkiely.com with your gender and size, and I’ll see if I have one from a prior year that will fit. My sincere apologies if not.
- The aid station will be a bit sparser than in previous years. Everything will be pre-packaged, either commercially or in baggies that our volunteers lovingly and safely put together ahead of time. If you touch it, you take it. But thanks to the volunteer who took on this job, there will be some nice surprises. There will be fluids: certainly water, probably PowerAde, maybe other.
- There will be no remote aid station. We just can’t monitor that often enough and keep it clean.
- Please keep support crews to a bare minimum. We don’t want you to lack support, but we also need to minimize the number of people around the start/finish area. (If you bring too large a crew we might put them to work on the race! 🙂 And feel free to use a pacer, as usual, particularly late in your race.
Okay, so here’s the thing. The 2021 AETR is going to be pretty different in fundamental ways, while keeping as much of its personality as we possibly can. But runners are not going to get as much support as in previous years; we just can’t do it safely. So, if you’re registered and change your mind about doing the race, for any reason (you don’t even need to tell me why), email me at don@donkiely.com, and I’ll cancel your registration and refund your fee (no deferrals; I don’t want to hold your money for another year!). I’ll process the refunds within a week to ten days after the race, in early June. But you must cancel by Friday, May 28 at midnight ADT (when registration closes) to get the refund.
And the other thing is that we’re not going to spend all the money we typically would. Shirts, food for the BBQ, some of the fancier fare at the aid station, etc. Much as I’d like to use the surplus to make a larger donation to the UAF West Ridge trails, I think the only reasonable thing to do would be to refund some portion of the registration fee. So that’s what I’ll do. Please give me some time though to get that done after the AETR; it’s going to be some work! Alternatively, let me know if you’d like me to just give your portion to the UAF West Ridge trails anyway. And thank you for supporting trails!
As always, please let me know your thoughts on all this. Best way is to email me at don@donkiely.com.