The writing has been on the wall for quite a while now so we wanted to connect earlier than our initial June 1st decision-making deadline. Here’s what we’re looking at;
- Our international field accounts for over a third of our participants this year. For most of those people, it is simply impossible to get here.
- The prevailing sentiment after our last email was that many of you would come if we held the race, but a majority of you would opt to defer if forced to race in masks.
- By August 16, we are unlikely to exit Phase 3 of Summit County’s recovery guidelines in time to loosen mask requirements or social distancing restrictions.
- The economic impact to our community can’t be overstated. This is a truly awful blow to the people who make your coffee, provide your lodging, fix your bikes, roll your sushi, and do everything else that makes your week in Breck awesome.
- Training for what’s supposed to be the experience of a lifetime (or possibly just your year) has also been a huge challenge for many.
- There are lots of self-appointed experts out there, but the truth is that we’re ALL off the map. We’re in uncharted territory.
- The risk to all of us is exponentially increased with each day that we race. If just one person gets sick, we’re ALL going to be sick. From a close relative who’s an epidemiologist, “This thing is no joke.”
The foundation of Epic is community. It’s a shared experience. Suffering, pain, joy, accomplishment, sacrifice, dirty jokes, bad breath, Olympic-grade flatulence…it’s an experience that allows us all to leave the things that sometimes divide us behind. Under the guidelines we’re going to face, we’re not confident that we can produce the simple, yet powerful qualities that make Epic epic. In acknowledgment of the risk to your safety, to that of our staff and volunteers, and to the reasonable doubts we have regarding our ability to deliver the Epic experience of which we’re proud, we are officially announcing the postponement of the 2020 Orange Seal Breck Epic to August 15-20, 2021.
Ugh. That is very hard to type.
Where do we go from here?
- Those who requested refunds prior to the April 16th deadline will be refunded in full.
- We’ll provide comp codes to ALL of you for next year’s event. Please use them, gift them or sell them as you see fit. You will need to re-register. We’ll have 2021 set up soon so that you may do so.
- Your deferral codes are valid for four years (instead of the standard two year period.)
- If you’re still planning on coming to Breck during the 3rd week of August, ride the courses! Those files are available online. To those of you who habitually complain about Stage 3’s LEFT turn away from the finish while it’s almost in sight (mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!) please feel free to turn right at that point. You can also skip Wheeler (or just climb the Peak 9 Road). This will be your only year for those options.
We’ll also be announcing “Epic in Place” (EIP), a summer-long online achievement-based event early next week. Virtual events make our eyes reflexively roll, but we think that with EIP, we’ve come up with something that will help maintain the sense of community that represents the heart of what we all do together. It will also involve cheeky t-shirts and all sorts of other swag that participants can unlock be passing certain milestones.
Our intent with Epic in Place isn’t to replace the actual Epic, but to encourage all of you (along with everyone else out there) to get your miles in this summer and to reap the considerable physical and mental benefits of pursuing healthy physical and social activity. The mental toll of COVID is serious business. Within Epic in Place you’ll see rewards and achievements for mileage, vertical gain, speed, and a bunch of other accomplishments. Every 2020 Breck Epic entrant will receive a complimentary entry to Epic in Place. Please stay tuned for more information – we’re mapping out the technology this week and next.
Postponing 2020 was not an easy choice. It was the hard one. It’s awful. But in our hearts and minds, we feel that it’s the right choice and we know that giving you as much notice as possible is the right call.
Look for more information from us soon regarding comp codes for 2021, Epic in Place info, and whatever else I forgot to tell you today (I’m sure there’s something).
Thanks. And I’m sorry. So sorry.
MikeMac
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