OGE Bitter Pill 2016 – Questions & Answers

We’ve been getting a few questions from teams new and old, and thought we’d capture key ones here so all teams are on the same footing.

If you have more questions, leave a comment here and we’ll do our best to answer without giving away course details.

3 responses to “OGE Bitter Pill 2016 – Questions & Answers”

  1. Luc Frechette says:

    We are very interested in your race. We are a team of 2 or 3. I read that there’s a waiting list because of a shortage of boats. We can bring our own canoe. Is that OK?
    Thank you,
    Luc

  2. Erik Petersen says:

    Is it possible to bring our own canoe. Most adventure races allow this. We can come early in the morning and shuttle the canoe to the necessary location, shortly before the race.

  3. Shawn says:

    First: We heard back from the boat provider and they found more canoes, so a few more 3-person teams will get to race. Kayaks are still tight though, so 2p teams will stay on the waiting list while we figure out whether we can switch an entire 2p division to canoes or something similar.

    Regarding bringing your own boats: There are a few reasons why we typically don’t do this. First, we always avoid giving away course details ahead of time, including the boat pickup/dropoff points. Second, we like a level playing field – if one team shows up with their carbon fiber ultralight racing kayak, it puts other teams at a disadvantage. Third, logistics like security and insurance, all the hassles that go with a huge pile of racer-owned boats lying in a field somewhere… it’s good to have a local company coming to pick things up rather than have a volunteer sitting there all day, waiting for teams to finish the race, eat dinner, and come gather their gear again.

    For what it’s worth, we’re definitely considering alternate race models for future years, including racer-supplied boats, but we would communicate that when we announce the race – for this Bitter Pill, we need to stick with our usual plan.