As the global pandemic continues to cause cancellations in the spring and summer race calendars, virtual races are starting to pop up as an alternative to going “head to head” with the competition. Unless of course your heads could all be at least 6 feet apart – although there are recommendations that when running you might want to be at least double or triple that distance away.
So let’s aim to slow the spread of COVID, while running a fast 5k all by your lonesome. But we will bring in some fun team aspect to this by scoring it the same way we do team scoring for the Stumptown Cross series. While this was originally an event we put together to replace canceled events in the TRL Summer Series, we know that all of our running friends in the region are missing out on races and events they had planned. Besides just giving everyone an excuse to run a fast solo-effort 5k, we are reaching out to all of the teams who join us for XC in the fall to represent their team this spring.
The event is pretty simple.
1. Sign up
2. Enter your team when registering
3. Make sure you have some GPS recording device (watch, phone, etc)
4. Find a legitimate 5k course. While a track or downhill course is legitimate, because GPS doesn’t work well on a track – no tracks. And find a loop or out-back; start/finish need to be within 0.5 mile of each other
5. Run your best 5k between May 9 – 16, 2020
6. Provide verification of your time (e.g. Strava, Garmin Connect)
This should be a lot of fun, even if there won’t be anyone to try to outkick to the finish line.
All of the details can be found on the registration page:
https://runsignup.com/Race/OR/Portland/StumptownQuarantineVirtual5K