Hello everyone!!
I hope this finds you and your loved ones safe and healthy! In this email, I provide an update on what we've been up to since the spring and then a look ahead to our fall events. What We've Been Up To Well...2020 has certainly proven to be an interesting 20th anniversary year for EX2. Let me first say how thankful I am for everyone's support. The pandemic has been tough on EX2, just like it has for many other small businesses, individuals, and families. But because of your support, EX2 isn't going away and we plan to be hosting events for many years to come. We worked hard to pivot in the spring and were able to host two successful virtual events. In May, we hosted a free Virtual Backyard Burn and it was a tremendous success and tons of fun! The event raised $5,555 for the Capital Area Food Bank and over 100 EX2 items (shirts, hats, etc.) were purchased from the race store. These purchases provided EX2 with a little much needed revenue to keep us going. In July, we hosted the Blue Crab Bolt Virtual Challenge and it blew away all our wildest expectations. The event had 828 participants from 30 states and raised over $7,600 for three awesome local non-profits: Button Farm Living History Center, Interfaith Works, and Mid-Atlantic Off-Road Enthusiasts. It's still wild to me that our largest event ever was a virtual one! What also was great about the virtual events was the interaction between participants on social media. Our EX2 Racers and Volunteers Facebook group grew to over 500 people during the challenge and participants often shared pictures from their runs. It was such an amazing way to stay connected to each other.
September Race Update We've been preparing for the return of in-person races for several months now and I'm happy to announce that 3 events are approved for September. Each event has a unique social distancing plan that includes staggered start times, chip timing, face coverings when not racing, and changes to aid stations and post-race food. I have the utmost confident that these precautions will create a very safe racing experience for participants, the EX2 staff, and our volunteers. Our events will be different for a while in that we can't gather in big groups at the starting line or for an awards ceremony, but EX2 events will still provide you an excellent experience and a wonderful outlet for healthy competition and personal challenge. In addition, virtual race options will accompany any in-person event should you not feel comfortable racing yet.
Please see the race websites for details about these upcoming September races: - In-person race 9/6 - 4 half marathon spots left
- Virtual race 8/22 to 9/13 - 26 spots remaining
- In-person race 9/20 - less than 40 spots remaining
- "On your own edition" 9/21 to 9/27
- Eco-Challenge was the reason that thousands of adventure racers got into the sport back in the late 90s and early 2000s. The latest Eco-Challenge was filmed in Fiji last fall and it's airing on Amazon Prime now. I had tons of friends there racing and it was an epic race and the TV show is awesome!! Check it out...and then sign up for VQ!
- In-person race 9/26+27 - registration re-opening soon
- Virtual race 9/19 to 10/4 - registration open now!
October and November Race Update We have been finalizing plans and receiving approvals for races about 30 to 45 days out from an event. This is largely because the situation has been so fluid from month to month. Therefore, we are not ready to formally announce what races will happen in October and November...but here is the status of things as of today.
Every race that isn't approved yet has a waitlist setup. The waitlist enables you to secure your spot in the race without having to pay the registration fee until it's approved. Waitlists are on the race pages on RunSignUp (all running events) or BikeReg (1725 Gravel Grinder).
One additional event that we have in the works is another challenge, similar to the Blue Crab Bolt Challenge. The event will be Backyard Burn themed and run from October 1st to October 31st. Stay tuned for more information!
Thank you for your continued support of EX2 Adventures. Have an awesome week!!
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