For Volunteers and Racers!

We're excited to announce a brand new program for 2010. Thanks to our sponsor Graygoat Sports, we have a bike to give away, check out Planet Adventure Rewards.

Through the season, collect entries into the drawing each time you volunteer or race. In addition, there will be special cards available beginning at the Boot Camp in March that you can use to receive a free water bottle and collect additional entries when you make purchases at Graygoat.

By Mike Garrison

Well, my stern determination to not design/direct any races in 2010 didn't even last to 2010. Sad. But, it will be fun to get involved with this years "Sprint"!

You may have noticed that Planet Adventure has greatly expanded the number of adventure races available in and around the Indianapolis area. In 2010 there will be three "Amazing Adventures", four traditional sprint length races, the always popular Urban Sprint AND the AR boot camp in March. All of these races serve as great "entry points" for first timers and great tune-ups and all around fun for the more experienced racer.

However, with all these short races it got me thinking about what the PA Sprint could or should be. For that reason this year the PA Sprint is growing up a little. It's format is changing and it's getting longer!

In short, the intent is to have the PA Sprint serve as a better stepping stone from the shorter sprints to 24 hour races. Although it is possible to jump right in to longer races (and many have and have great stories to show for it), it's nice to build up to the longer events.

The hope for this years Sprint is to have it be more of a "mini-24" that will better prepare you for PA in June (and any other long race you might have on the calendar this year). As such it will have/be the following:

• 8-12 hours in length, maybe a little longer (We'll no more as we get the course ironed out)
• No special challenges (traditional longer races generally don't have special challenges that are not related to your movement through the course, by removing them you'll have more time to spend riding, running and paddling!)
• Plotting of points will be required (although there may be some premarked maps, people that are adept at plotting maps will have an advantage)
• Multiple maps, mostly 1:24,000 scale
• Longer legs (probably won't be able to get by with a few gels and a bottle of water any more)
• Harder nav/orienteering section (where possible route selection will be key, and the orienteering specific sections will be more challenging)
• The need for a headlamp (you may actually be racing in the dark!)
• Transitions, but no TA (You'll be transitioning disciplines multiple times, but there will likley be no access to gear at those times. This will hopefully give everyone a better feel for how to handle gear on longer races.)

Got any other ideas about how to make this race a better intro to long racing? I'd love to hear them. For that matter, with all these changes it kind of begs the question as to whether this race should really be called a "sprint". If not, anyone got any ideas?

Indianapolis, IN – February 4, 2010 - When people think of Olympic speed skaters like Eric Heiden, Apolo Ohno and Derek Parra, several things come to mind, namely skill, technique and power. While this is most certainly the case, these athletes have another thing in common. They all started their speed skating careers at a local roller rink. Living up to the nicknames, “The Speed Capital of the World” and “The Amateur Sports Capital of the World”, Indianapolis will host five quality criterium style inline skating sporting events in 2010.

With the help of a local adventure sports company, Planet Adventure, LLC inline skaters of all athletic abilities can compete in Indianapolis for points in the 2010 National Roller Cup (NROC) at various sites throughout the city. “When we were approached by some of the local inline speed skaters, we saw a natural fit with what we already offer right away.” said James Nichols of Planet Adventure. Planet Adventure will run inline skating events from short sprints up to a 26.2 mile marathon in between category I-V cycling events. With four of the events being sanctioned by NROC, the events are expected to attract “inliners” of all levels from the recreational and fitness skater to the professional speed skater.

“We are not only excited to just offer this sport in our line up; we’d really like to do our part to help it grow.” said Matthew Jourdan of Planet Adventure. “Having the USA Cycling races already scheduled around the city made it easy for us to work inline into the day. NROC and the support of the local inline speed skaters just make it easier to host a quality event for these athletes. From what we know, the courses are shorter this first year than most inline road races, but we are confident that this year will open doors to different courses in the future.”

Elite inline speed skaters can finish a 26.2 mile marathon, depending on the course, in a little over an hour. This always raises the concern on shorter courses of keeping track of lapped skaters that take longer to finish. Jourdan says, “We knew this would be an issue, but the state-of-the-art RFID chip timing system we’ve invested in will eliminate this problem. The rest comes down to directing traffic. The bottom line is that if we couldn't handle it, we wouldn't be doing this. This is a hot sport. It’s exciting to not only watch but to participate in whether you are pulling your “rollerblades” out of the closet for the first time since the 90s or coming from Canada to rack up NROC points.”

Planet Adventure offers safe courses, chip timing, on time start times, same day results posted on-line, various race lengths and types in one day to choose from, professional registration and results reporting and nationally recognized sanctioning for outdoor enthusiasts of all types as young as 6 years of age. For more information on Planet Adventure events visit http://www.planetadventurerace.com.