Ugh. We hate sending this email because we know it is going to ruin everyone's day, maybe your summer, and cause a lot of angst. This morning, we were told we cannot hold the race because of fire closures.
Last week we sent an email with some race information, including notice of three fires we were keeping our eyes on. Since then, those fires grew in size, there are other fires that have also grown, and the Willamette forest is loosing some of their fire fighting resources to other bigger fires on the west coast, but there are still over 600 people working on these fires. There is now a forest closure that encompasses our race; the access roads, the trails, the campgrounds, and the trailheads. The only part still open to the public is Greenwaters Park in Oakridge and the first nine miles of the course. Literally, everything else is closed to the public through November.
The Coffeepot fire is the closest to Oakridge (start/finish of the race) and has closed Forest Road 21. This is what you run on after crossing the dam to get to first aid station at CT Beach, south along the Hills Creek Reservoir, and becomes the road that volunteers and crew use to get to the rest of the course. The Lemolo & Potter fires at the other end of the course, in the Umpqua National Forest, have closed use of the trails and trailheads, and driving access to it. The good news is that as far as we can tell, the only trail that may have actually had fire on it so far is a portion of the NUT on the north side of Lemolo Lake, and we can get around that for next year.
OPTIONS:
Our policy if we have to cancel is to give a 50% race credit, but we are going to do more with this one because we feel so badly for you. You can either:
1) Defer to next year (you'll register next year, but your registration fee will be zero)
2) Receive a 85% refund of the race registration fee (we'll mail a check to the address on your registration)
We aren't able to refund Ultrasignup processing fee as we don't get that money.
Trail work hours submitted for this year's race will count towards next year's race.
Reply to this email with your choice.
We understand that this is devastating news - that you have invested so much time and energy and money into your training, planning logistics and travel, and that the impact will ripple through to your family and friends. The thought of starting over for next year's race could be overwhelming. And now you have to unwind all your plans. Please take some time to digest this and get back to us with your preference of options 1 or 2 by August 16.
We are also unwinding everything that we can for the race and notifying the runners and the volunteers is the first on the list. We have another big race this coming weekend on Mt. St. Helens, and so are doing the best we can right now to deal with this and will answer your questions the best we can.
