Over the past few months, the Emerald Mountain Epic (EME) team worked diligently to exhaust all possible avenues, developing comprehensive mitigation plans, and communicating with the appropriate City and County authorities in an effort to put on a race that would be safe for both our participants and our community. After careful consideration, we’ve come to the conclusion that we would not be able to host the EME in a way that will both garner support from our local officials and still allow us to maintain our original mission of hosting Steamboat’s premier single track race experience. Ultimately, protecting the health and safety of the racers, as well as our community members, is the most important race we are in this summer, and one we all must win!
While that might be hard for you to hear, there is good news! Knowing that this was always a possibility, we have been preparing for this scenario and are excited to announce the 2020 Emerald Mountain Epic, presented by Honey Stinger, Premier Virtual experience! Through our virtual experience, the event will still support two amazing local non-profits, Partners in Routt County and Routt County Riders!
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE:
If You’ve Already Registered for the Emerald Mountain Epic…
- Every registered racer will automatically be enrolled in our virtual experience, which will take place August 8th- 23rd. You will be challenged to complete the same lengths as you would have in the actual event, and you will be able to upload your results either from Strava or manually to our registration platform, BikeReg. Moreover, to truly recreate the experience of the actual Emerald Mountain Epic, you will be prompted in a future email to challenge yourself to ride or run a course that has a similar elevation profile to the EME (or even the actual course if you are in the Steamboat Springs area)! For every challenge you complete, you will earn additional entries into our prize drawings. For example, if you are signed up for and complete a 26-mile mountain bike ride, you'll earn one entry. However, if you are a Queen of the Mountain participant and complete a 52-mile mountain bike ride with over 7,000 feet of elevation gain AND a full trail marathon with over 3,500 feet of elevation gain, you'll earn EIGHT entries into our prize drawing.
- The best part is that you have some options with how to handle the registration fee you’ve already paid. You can consider it a donation to our non-profit beneficiaries, Routt County Riders and Partners in Routt County. Ultimately, the Emerald Mountain Epic is a charity event, and these two organizations were relying heavily on the revenue from this race to support their organizations and their missions. This is especially true in a year where typical fundraising efforts have been lower than normal. If you choose this option, you will be guaranteed a spot in next year’s event at a discounted rate. Another option is that you can choose to use it as a credit towards our 2021 event, which will guarantee you a spot in next year’s race, but not at any additional discount! Lastly, you can request a refund.
- You will be receiving an email from our BikeReg platform in the next few days that will allow you to choose what you would like to do with the remainder of your registration fee. You will have until July 1st to make your decision. Anyone who has not responded by July 1st will have the remainder of their registration fee considered as a donation to our non-profit beneficiaries.
- We will be providing more details regarding the specifics of our Virtual experience, and the prizes that you can win, very soon!
If You Still Have Not Registered for the Emerald Mountain Epic…
- We encourage you to still do so here: www.bikereg.com/emerald-mountain-epic-virtual
- Maybe you were waiting to see what the status of our event would be as we get closer, or maybe participating in a large event during the current situation was not appealing to you. Whatever the reason was that you had not signed up yet, please know that we are still accepting participants in our Virtual Experience. In fact, where we were once thinking we would have to cap our registration field, we now have unlimited space! This remains a fundraising event for our non-profit beneficiaries. If nothing else, use that as your inspiration for participating in the EME Virtual!
- We’re even adding “Mini-Epic” virtual options for people who want to participate in this fundraising event, but an unsupported 26-mile bike ride or half-marathon are not within your current comfort levels. Try our 10 mile bike ride or 10K Trail Running Mini-Epic Virtual Experience!
Save the Dates for 2021
- With all of this, our goal to host Steamboat’s premier singletrack race experience has not changed. It’s simply been delayed. Please put it in your calendars now to join us for August 7th & 8th, 2021!