Important updates due to COVID-19
Dear Kodiak Community,
We have been closely monitoring the situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic and we want to do the best thing we can for our runners, volunteers, and our mountain community of Big Bear Lake. Please read this important update - it's a little long, but we want you to know everything we're planning and how it affects you.
Because of the continued uncertainty due to COVID-19, we are strongly considering postponing the 2020 Kodiak to September 11-12, 2020. Right now, we feel that pushing the race out by approximately one month would give us a much better chance of holding the event. Still, we don't know what the orders and guidelines may be in the future, but we do need to make some decisions that minimize risk for you as a participant and for us as a race organization.
We expect to receive updates on California state and local orders within the next week or so. We plan to decide on the postponement no later than June 1. We will keep everyone informed of any updates, modifications, or changes along the way. If uncertainty still exists 4-6 weeks before the event, we will likely need to make the difficult decision to cancel the event. We want to give everyone enough time to deal with travel plans, time off work, child care, alternate plans, final training, etc.
If the event is postponed to September 11-12, 2020, you will have these options to choose from:
1 - Accept your entry into the September 11-12, 2020 event
2 - Defer your entry to 2021
3 - Receive a refund of 85% of your entry fee (doesn't include Ultrasignup service fee)
4 - Or, in lieu of receiving a 85% refund, your refund will be donated to the Bear Valley SAR team and the Big Bear Trails
If you choose option 1 above and later are unable to run (i.e. due to injury), you may rollover to next year until June 30. After June 30, we offer rollovers if you come volunteer.
If we are eventually forced to cancel, everyone will have the following options:
1 - Defer to 2021 or 2022
2 - Receive a refund (amount is TBD and will be based on how close to the race we get. The closer to the race, the more of your entry fee we've already spent.)
3 - Donate your refund amount to the Bear Valley SAR Team and the Big Bear Trails
Reminder: At this time, you can defer your entry to next year per our regular policy. Please email us if you already know you want do that.
NEW REGISTRATIONS
If you are not currently registered, you may register on Ultrasignup without being charged at this time. The list of those who have not been charged will function similar to a Waitlist. Once we have a clearer outlook on moving forward with the 2020 race, we will then reach out to each person on the Waitlist, in the order they signed up. You will then have the opportunity to register and pay or you can choose to decline. We will not charge you without your consent, however if we don't hear from you within 48 hours your spot will be given to the next person.
EVENT CAPACITY
Restrictions on group gathering size may force us to lower the maximum number of runners this year. We don't yet know if this will affect us, but we do think it's likely to. Therefore, if you know for sure you want to run if we are able to hold the event, we recommend getting on the "waitlist" sooner than later.
100 MILERS
All 100 milers are required to complete a minimum of a 50 mile race distance within the races' official cut-off time, within the last 2 years. We understand that many of you run your 50 mile race qualifier in the Spring or Summer leading up to the Kodiak 100 and if that's the case, your options were/are very limited to do that this year. We thought about how we can help out with this and decided we will allow a virtual 50M run (certain criteria required) and we're also planning to host our own semi-fatass 50M run in Big Bear in late June/early July, within the guidelines set by our government officials. We're still ironing out the details and will email and post them when they're final.
TRAINING RUNS
Typically we host a few training runs along different sections of the course during June and July. We would love to host them again this year, but at this time we don't know if we can. We'll email, post on social media, and update our website once we know if we can hold the training runs or not. Of course, everyone is welcome to come to Big Bear on their own to run. Please follow any orders and government guidelines in place at the time.
VOLUNTEERS
Team Kodiak volunteers are amazing people that make the race experience so memorable to the runners and we can't thank them enough. They are on the front lines at the aid stations and also working behind the scenes. The race could not take place without our volunteers! Please spread the word about volunteering! You can sign up to get on our volunteer list and get more information here: https://www.kodiak100.com/volunteer. Thank you very much!
--If you have volunteer credits and plan to sign-up on the waitlist, please make sure your credits are applied before you sign-up.
There are so many factors that we are considering and thinking about regarding this year's event and all the options we can provide to help everyone's situation. We probably haven't thought of everything and every individual circumstance. We also need to keep in mind the event's financials so that we can continue to organize the event in the future. We sincerely hope this plan is fair and reasonable. Please don't hesitate to reach out with questions or comments. We can't wait to see you in Big Bear when it is safe to do so!
STAY IN TOUCH
Website: www.kodiak100.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Kodiak100
Instagram: www.instagram.com/kodiak.ultras/
Kodiak Ultra Community: www.facebook.com/groups/kodiakultracommunity
Email: info@kodiak100.com
All the best,
Susie Schmelzer
Race Director
