Mark your calendars!
The 3rd Annual Ride Roll Run Relay is scheduled for January 31, 2009. The rain date has been scheduled for February 7th. It's that time of year again! Plans for the 3rd Annual Ride Roll Run Relay are in full swing, and everyone on the Planning Committee is extremely excited about the 2009 event. Here are some exciting changes that we're making this year.
Calendars – A 2009 Ride Roll Run Relay calendar will be available for sale later this year and at the Relay. The calendars will be $15, and 100% of the proceeds will go to the Florida Greenways and Trails Foundation and will be used to maintain, improve and expand the trail system and trailheads of the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway. The calendars are being put together by Greenway Equestrians, Ocala Mountain Bike Association and Ocala’s Runner Club, and it will include meetings, trail clean-up days and events planned by all three of these groups as well as the Greenway. Our platinum sponsors are each sponsoring one or more months and the calendar will contain information about various events and sales for these companies. Each month will contain colorful pictures of equestrians, bikers, runners and hikers taken by Cyndi Chambers Photography on the Greenway. Future calendars will contain pictures from the previous year’s Relay. Photographs – We are excited to announce that Cyndi Chambers Photography will be at the Ride Roll Run Relay to capture all of the excitement, action, sportsmanship and teamwork of the day. The photos will be available to purchase at Cyndi Chambers Photography. Race route – We are going to keep the same route that we had for the 2008 Relay since everyone really enjoyed the route and the fact that all of the relay legs started and ended at the Land Bridge Trailhead. The biker and runner maps from last year are still available. The equestrian route is being mapped with a GPS system, and the map will be posted on the website before the end of 2008. Relay handoffs – We are reworking the system to smooth out a few bumps that we’ve had in the past. This year the equestrians will hand off their bracelet to the bikers immediately upon arriving at the Land Bridge Trailhead. The horses will have a set amount of time to pass a mandatory pulse and/or vet check. Any amount of time over the set time it takes to pass the check will be a time penalty added to the team time. This change will allow more competition for the bikers and runners while still making the health of the horses a priority. We are also going to attempt to have individual times for each participant. The logistics are still being worked out, but we had so many requests for this that we wanted to try to have this information available for our participants. Awards – We will have ribbons available for the first through tenth place teams as well as the much sought after Turtle Awards for the team that finishs the closest to our closing ceremony. |
What Is the Ride-Roll-Run Relay for the Greenway
In 2006, The Office of the Greenway Trails and volunteers from the Greenway user groups (equestrians, bikers, and runners) met to create a friendly competition that would help bring together the different users of the Greenway. The Ride Roll Run Relay was organized so that a team of three members (one member of each group) could compete against other teams for prizes and bragging rights. Proceeds benefit the Florida Greenways and Trail Foundation, a non-profit organization. The Inaugural Ride Roll Run Relay for the Greenway was held in February, 2007. While this is a beginner friendly race in terms of distance (In 2007 the distances were: horses 7 miles; bikers 10 miles; and runners 3.5 miles), this is a TRAIL RACE. All racers will be on narrow, single-track trails and will have some sections of hilly trails through the canal diggings. There are separate trails for each discipline. Equestrians will have to deal with some short, steep hills and knee knockers. Downed trees are always a possibility on the trails, but the trails will be ridden the day before in attempt to find and remove any large trees. Bikers will ride a combination of wooded single track and limerock multipurpose rod with stead inclines/declines. Runners have short, steep up and down hills, and they may have to hop over logs and duck under branches. Don’t let this scare you off. All racers have long stretches of flat, gentle trail to pass the competition. As each racer returns to the Land Bridge trail head and crosses the finish line they pass off their baton (colored wrist bands) to their team member who continues on their course. Equestrians start the race. Bikers are second in the relay and runners finish for the team. |
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Sponsors for the 2009 Ride Roll Run Relay
Without your support and dedication, none of this would be possible. Thank you!
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