While we aren’t yet out of the COVID woods, the current roll out of vaccinations is a cause for optimism that we might be able to enjoy some “normal” things by the time we get into mid-2021. In case there is some reality to that optimism, plans are in motion to hold an in-person Stumptown Cross series this fall.
The dates are set and permits are being secured. Add the following to your calendar, and plan to join us.
Saturday, Dec 11 – USATF club nationals in Tallahassee, FL
At this point it is too early to figure out exactly what in-person races might mean. The current Phase 2 requirements that the state and Portland Parks has in place is a maximum number of people that can be in the park at a given time (limit of 150 people, which includes participants, volunteers and spectators) and a requirement that masks are worn during the event. We already have separate mens and womens races, but we may need to adjust start times so that people can leave the park when they are done racing. There is a list of other safety requirements we will need to plan for, including how to safely do bib pick up, sanitize restrooms, etc.
The guidance in Washington is slightly different, but will apply to the Strawberry Island race. While it doesn’t require masks while racing, it does require wave starts and limits the number of runners in each wave depending on what phase the state is in at the time of the event.
While we are going to have to plan for conditions that exist at the present, hopefully things are improved as we move another 6 months into the future. Today’s guidance might require masks at all times, but perhaps by fall it will be safe to have a competitive field of runners who have all been vaccinated? Time will tell what fall will bring, but for now, optimism has us moving forward with planning an in-person 2021 Stumptown Cross season. Stay tuned for more details, but for now, add those dates to your calendar and plan to join us!
As people may already have heard, the New York Times looked at the data behind the CDC’s guidelines on outdoor activities and found the risk to be wildly overstated. Specifically, CDC said that less than 10 percent of Covid cases came from outdoor activities. This is an accurate statement. But it is WAY less than 10 percent. The studies the agency relied on came up with no more than 1 percent, or .1 percent, and even these studies lumped mixed indoor/outdoor activities into the “outdoor” category, so it may be closer to zero. And that, I think, was for unvaccinated people. By fall we could, of course, get an outdoor variant of the virus, but more likely the government will relax the rules. I get what’s going on: they don’t want to have to reverse course and become more restrictive, but they appear to be working on a 10-100 fold margin of safety.
Posted by Rick Lovett | May 11, 2021, 2:27 pmSlight update on Stumptown. Permits are being finalized, and it seems like all systems are go! Unless something bizarre happens, we will be on for XC racing this fall. And we were able to move the Strawberry Island date to Saturday, Oct 23 – so all races will be on Saturdays (versus having one oddball). Looking forward to another fun season of Stumptown!
Posted by Torrey | May 29, 2021, 6:01 am