There are so many reasons to run the Pick Your Poison Relay, and now there is one more: A new exchange, allowing teams to run shorter legs if they want to.
Besides the fact that you don’t need a van and don’t have crazy traffic to deal with, this relay is really like no other. It’s a lap relay, where your team takes turns running around Hagg Lake. You set up at the main exchange, where you can camp for free for the weekend. Then you send one runner out at a time around the lake and hang out with your team until he or she gets back.
The Relay offers choices: 12 hours or 24 hours; solo runners or teams of 2, 4, 6, or 8. One lap on the road course is 10.7 miles and one lap on the trail course is 14.5 miles. If you’re a not up for running that far, don’t worry, runners can either complete a full lap, or hand off to a teammate at an optional exchange point. This year, the event, put on by Go Beyond Racing, has added a second optional exchange point to make the legs shorter.
Road Course Distances
Leg One: Start (Boat Ramp C) to Optional Exchange 1 (Dam) = 4.5 miles
Leg Two: Exchange 1 (Dam) to Exchange 2 (Tanner) = 3.4 miles
Leg Three: Exchange 2 (Tanner) to Start/Finish/Main Exchange (Boat Ramp C) = 2.8
Full lap = 10.7 miles
Trail Course Distances
Leg One: Start to Optional Exchange 1 (Dam) = 5.1 miles
Leg Two: Exchange 1 (Dam) to Exchange 2 (Tanner) = 5.0 miles
Leg Three: Exchange 2 (Tanner) to Start/Finish/Main Exchange (Boat Ramp C) = 4.4
Full lap = 14.5 miles
Team members can run as many legs or laps as they want. So if someone wants to run two laps in a row, they can. If someone wants to run one full lap and stop at the Dam exchange on their second lap, they can.
With this addition of a second optional exchange point, the race is also going to factor in partial laps in determining winners. In previous years, only full laps would count. Now, getting to an exchange point before the time cutoff will matter. For example, Team “Between a Walk and a Hard Pace” completes 6 full laps and makes it to the Dam exchange by the 24-hour mark. Team “Find Your Happy Pace” also completes 6 full laps and makes it to the Tanner exchange by the 24-hour mark. Team “Find Your Happy Pace” would win since they completed more miles on the course. The relay is chip-timed so you don’t have to keep track of your exchanges on a clipboard – just go run!
I mentioned that there were many reasons to pick this relay, and running is just one of them. This event has a lot of fun things happening throughout the day and night.
- It starts off with free Voodoo Doughnuts in the morning. Yes sir, the Voodoo Doughnut truck pulls up and stays until the doughnuts are gone. Carb loading at its best!
- You can bring your own food, or buy from the food carts that’ll be on-site.
- Aid stations
- Cornhole, ladder ball, and other lawn games are available, plus there’s a lake to take a dip in.
- There’s a beer garden for those 21 and older.
- Chocolate! Yes, there is a chocolate fountain flowing Saturday afternoon.
- When it gets dark, they show movies and have free popcorn.
- A campfire Saturday night (bring your marshmallows).
- Free breakfast Sunday morning – yes, you’ll wake up to the smell of bacon. Oh, and they have mimosas too.
Registration is open and especially affordable when you consider all that is included. Here are the details, so you can simply share this post with your friends and start putting your team together:
When: July 23-24, 2016
What time: Both 12- and 24-hour relay races start at 8a on Saturday, July 23. The 12-hour race ends at 8p and the 24-hour race, accordingly, ends at 8a on Sunday, July 24
Where: Hagg Lake, Boat Ramp C
Register: Online here; prices vary by team size and which duration relay you choose. For example, the 6-person 12-hour team is $800; the 24-hour race for that same team would be $1,224