All RTO teams need to move along the RTO course in a timely manner and get to the finish by no later than 4 pm Saturday.
For a team who takes the maximum time allowed, that is they start at 7 am Friday and finish at 4 pm Saturday, that is 33 hours and that means an average pace of 11.12 minutes per mile. Remember the RTO is a run. It was never intended to be nor set up for a walk.
At that pace which is the slowest pace allowed, we need you to get to the van exchange points by the following times:
XP 6 at the Tahoe Forest Church near Boca
1:15 pm Friday although there is no time pressure here because this exchange is open until about 7 pm because the fastest teams do not start until 4 pm and won’t get here until about 7 pm
XP 12 at Homewood Mountain Resort
7:20 pm Friday although you have a little more time but not a lot more time
XP 18 at the Village Shopping Center in South Lake Tahoe
12:30 am Saturday
XP 24 at the Walmart in south Carson City
5:45 am Saturday
XP 30 in downtown Virginia City
10:15 am Saturday
Ideally all teams arrive at and depart Virginia City by 9:55 am because at 10 am we need to re-open C Street for traffic and the runner exchange would move onto the sidewalk by the Bucket of Blood Saloon. C Street will be closed for us from 5 am to 10 am.
We have to respect our volunteers who will be working long shifts in the middle of the course and we don’t want to prolong those hours an unreasonable amount of time. We also have staff and vendors out there and we want to respect their time too.
So what if your team will not be meeting these time windows?
- What if your team is falling behind on Legs 13 to 18 so that you will not reach XP 18 by 12:30 am?
We will have you skip certain legs, probably Legs 15, 16 and 17, and your Leg 15, 16, 17 and 18 runners can run Leg 18 together, so that you reach XP 18 by 12:30 am. Everyone will run a second leg that way. We also will start your Van 2 at 12:30 am. It may be a better idea to start Van 2 earlier than that.
ALSO ALL VAN 2s MUST START LEG 19 BY 12:15 am. - What if your team is falling behind on Legs 19 to 24 so that you will not reach XP 24 by 5:45 am?
We will have you skip certain legs, probably Legs 21, 22, and 23, and your Leg 21, 22, 23 and 24 runners can run Leg 24 together, so that you reach XP 24 by 5:45 am. Everyone will run a second leg that way. We also will start your Van 1 at 5:30 am. It may be a better idea to start Van 1 earlier than that.
ALSO ALL VAN 1s MUST START LEG 25 BY 5:30 am. - What if your team is falling behind on Legs 25 to 30 so that you will not reach XP 30 by 10:15 am?
We will have you skip certain legs, probably Legs 27, 28, and 29, and your Leg 27, 28, 29 and 30 runners can run Leg 30 together, so that you reach XP 30 by 9:45 am when C Street is still closed. Everyone will run a third leg that way. We also will start your Van 2 at 9:30 am. It may be a better idea to start Van 1 earlier than that.
ALSO ALL VAN 2s MUST START LEG 31 BY 9:30 am. - What if your team is falling behind on Legs 31 to 36 so that you will not reach the finish by 4 pm?
We will have you skip certain legs, probably Legs 33, 34 and 35, and your Leg 33, 34, 35 and 36 runners can run Leg 36 together, so that your team finishes by 4 pm. Everyone will run a third leg that way.
HARD CLOSURES HERE SO YOUR TEAM MUST BE THROUGH THESE POINTS:
– EXCHANGE 31 BY SAT. 11 AM;
– EXCHANGE 32 BY SAT. 11:30 AM;
– EXCHANGE 33 BY SAT. 12:30 PM;
– EXCHANGE 34 BY SAT. 2 PM;
– EXCHANGE 35 BY SAT. 3 PM.
If you need to make any of these adjustments, that’s OK. The good news is you will still earn your finisher medals and other swag. Plus you will be moving along the course when it is so much better to be out there with all the other teams and you will get to the finish when there is a party going on and people there. The only downside is your team will not be eligible to win its division, but you probably weren’t in the event for that purpose anyway and really don’t care about that.
We will absolutely need to know that your team made any of these adjustments so that we can alert the exchange point volunteers that your team will not be passing by. That is very important. We will provide you with a list of RTO staff to contact depending on the time of the day and night.
We’ll have a list of teams and be ready for your adjustments.
It is not fun if you are one of the last teams way behind the rest of the field falling further behind and stressing out about getting the last legs done. So be ready to make these adjustments and make the RTO a lot more enjoyable for everyone involved.