The Wicked Gorge race is drawing near! We truly hope you've been out training for this race, it's going to be tough! Here's a quick update for you, a more detailed update about the morning of the race will be sent out by Tuesday Evening the 12th at the latest.

ROPES:
I'm sad to report, that the ropes section has been canceled for this race. The local park management is concerned with the impact of racers on the 1200 other regular daily users of the park. We searched high and low for alternate ropes locations, and there are no locations that are suitable. :-(

ALL ropes related required equipment is no longer necessary. Updated equipment list is available on the website at:

http://www.wickedar.com/2005/race/sprint/gorge/data/equipment

PARKING:
There is a $5 parking fee for Beacon Rock State Park, for a daily Washington State Parks pass. NW Forest Pass and Oregon State Parks passes will NOT be acceptable. Parking passes will be available at the Race HQ location (details in follow up email).

Additionally a "Golden Eagle Parking Pass" *with* the NW Recreation add-on option will work.

Park rangers will be out in force and ticketing during the race.

VEHICLES:
There is a very limited parking. We would like to ask everyone to car pool as much as is possible to help reduce the number of vehicles that need to be parked. If there are too many vehicles, some of you may be directed to overflow parking which is 1.5 miles away.

TREKKING:
If you have multiple trekking shoes, you may want to bring them for this race. We guarantee you will be getting wet feet, several times on this race.

TA STAGING:
There are 3 Transition Areas in this race, a Boat TA, a Bike and Trek TA, and the Start/Finish TA. You may want to bring 3 TA bins PER TEAM. More details will be provided in the Update #2 email. You will also want to stage a post race backpack with clean clothes/food at the race HQ area.

RACE RULES:
Please note that the rules and regulations surrounding all Wicked Adventure Sprint Series races are always available online at:

http://www.wickedar.com/2005/race/sprint/rules

You will be required to sign a statement that declares you have read, understand, and will follow all of the race related rules and regulations.

SERIES POINTS:
For those of you who are aiming at the Wicked Adventure Sprint Series championship crown, you may want to check out the various rules and procedures surrounding the series point calculations and standings, at:

http://www.wickedar.com/2005/race/sprint/championship

WEATHER:
As we all know in the Pacific Northwest, the weather can turn on a dime. So, any weather report should be taken with a large grain of salt, and you should always be prepared for worse. Check out the weather forecast for the gorge at the following location:

http://www.wickedar.com/2005/race/sprint/gorge/general/weather

This is going to be a VERY tough race, we also hope it's going to be a TON of fun for all of you, too. We look forward to seeing you at the race in a week! Please feel free to drop us an email or call us if you have any questions or concerns surrounding the race.

Shane and Kathleen

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