WECH50 2019 - Virtual Run!

To make use of this year’s event merchandise we’re hosting a virtual run so that you can still “earn” your sweet gear. We get that some of you may not want to take part, so there’s an option for you too (but you won’t get a medal or race bib).

Only 2019 WECH50 registered participants are eligible to receive their merchandise or virtual run prizes; anyone else that plays along is just doing so for fun.

Option 1 - I just want my race singlet

Post to us a prepaid, self-addressed 500g parcel post satchel and we will send your singlet out to you (please include a note with your satchel telling us you only want your singlet). We need to have received this no later than 23 Oct. Mail this to:

Coastal High 50
PO Box 409
Coolangatta QLD 4225

Why this way? To send out every singlet would cost about $4000 - which is money we'd rather donate to the bushfire recovery. We also estimate it would take about 30hrs to address and package each parcel - so this speeds that process up.

Option 2 - I'm keen on my medal, race bib and singlet!

Ohhh - the fun way: welcome to the WECH50 2019 Virtual Run!

The steps to be completed:

1. This is the same as for the option 1 crowd - post to us a prepaid, self-addressed 500g parcel post satchel so we can send your merchandise out to you. We need to have received this no later than 23 Oct.

Then - the earning of your gear begins:

2. Request to join this group on Strava. And yes, before you ask, this is being done through Strava and it's the only way to take part. Only 2019 WECH50 registered participants are eligible to receive their merchandise or category prizes; anyone else that sneaks into the group is just in there for fun.

3. Any time between Sep 7 - Oct 20 (inclusive) run 50km or more in a single run (minimum 47km on Strava to allow for GPS error). This can be on roads, trails, mountains - whatever. You must then make this activity public (so we can see it) and change the activity type to "Race" (so the timing is correct).

4. You must then fill out this form - which will give us the details we need to check that you've completed your virtual WECH50 run. This submission must be done by midnight 23 Oct.

You MUST complete all the above steps to be eligible for your medal, singlet and race bib. Note that you can only submit 1 run as your virtual run "entry".

Any 2019 WECH50 entrant who completes the challenge also goes into the draw to win 1 of 5, $100 Wild Earth vouchers.

Category Prizes

In addition to earning your normal merchandise, we will be offering prizes for certain categories in the virtual run - thanks to our sponsors Wild Earth and Suunto. The following category prizes will only apply to runs that measure between 47-55km in Strava, with elevation gain of at least 1500m, and with duration (“elapsed time” in Strava) less than 10.5hrs. We will not be calculating pro-rata data for longer events (i.e. you can't run 100km and hope to use parts of your data to enter the category prizes). Why 47km? That is to allow a margin of error for GPS inaccuracies. Ditto the minimum 1500m of climbing. Why 10.5hrs? That is the regular cutoff time for WECH50.

Suunto King & Queen of the Mountain

Activity with the most vertical gain. We reserve the right to cross-check elevation data in your activity as sometimes there are some dodgy numbers. The male and female runners who log the most elevation gain during their virtual 50km will win a Suunto 9 watch!

Suunto Speedsters

The fastest male and female runners in their virtual run will each win a Suunto 5 watch! Choose your route wisely for this one (some 50kms will be a lot quicker than others!). Activity time will be elapsed time, not moving time (so rest breaks will be counted in your time!).

Wild Earth Wild Things

The fastest male and female in each age category will win a $50 Wild Earth voucher. Categories are 18-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60+.

You cannot win multiple category prizes - we will continue to roll down the results to find the next fastest runner who hasn't yet won a prize. Prize category priority is KOTM > Speedsters > Wild Things (i.e. if you win the Speedster category you will be awarded that prize, not the Wild Thing prize).

FINAL COMMENTS

You can only submit one (1) run as your virtual run "entry"; if you wish to be eligible for both your merchandise and category prizes it needs to meet the stricter “category prizes” activity. If you just wish to get your singlet, medal and race bib your run simply needs to be longer than 47km (as measured in Strava).

Reminder again that your virtual run must be between the dates 7 Sep - 20 Oct (inclusive), and you must have filled out the form (link above) nominating your run by midnight 23 Oct. We must also have received your self-addressed postage satchel by this date too; any later than this and we won’t be posting stuff out to you.

EDIT: The cut-off dates are intentional - we would love for you to get out and run one of the other southern QLD ultras held in the next several weeks (Scenic Rim Ultra on Oct 5 and The Blackall 100 on Oct 19), and you can use these runs for your virtual run.

That's it. Go!

2019 Participants - Post-Cancellation Info.

We've had a few questions about what happens now in regards to the 2019 Wild Earth Coastal High 50 - for both the event and the people entered to run it.

As we mentioned in our previous posts, it isn't feasible to reschedule an event of this scale - due to the many preparations by us the organisers and you the runners, it just isn't do-able. Couple that with the destruction that has occurred at Binna Burra, and it means there will be no WECH50 event this year.

We'll start this next bit with our listed cancellation policy - this was available to all runners prior to entry in our "Conditions of Entry" document, as well as in the entry waiver agreed to prior to signing up. We're providing it first, then we'll explain in more detail, so hear us out:

In the event that the Event course is, in the opinion of the event organisers, unsafe (e.g heavy rain, high winds, bushfires, "acts of god" etc), or at the direction of the land managers or any other relevant authority, organisers may be required to cancel the event. If the event is cancelled due to circumstances beyond the control of the event organisers, the organisers will attempt to provide some compensation to entrants, however there are no guarantees as to the extent of this compensation due to costs incurred prior to cancellation. No responsibility is assumed or taken by the organisers for lost travel or accommodation expenses, or for part or full loss of entry fees paid.

The reason we, and every other running event that we know of, has such a policy is that by event day, 90% of the work - including expenditure - has already occurred. When you enter a running event, your fees aren't just for the experience of event day (for sure, and quite rightly, that's the most important aspect for you); your fee is for the service of us preparing and delivering the event. This service includes paying (in advance) for things like hire equipment, consultants (e.g. environmental assessment), purchasing of medals, singlets and other merchandise, paying for aid station supplies (most of which we have since paid forward to the Rural Fire Service), etc - you get the idea. What we're trying to say is that most of the event delivery service for which you are paying us has already been performed before event day finally arrives.

As a side note, these financial expenditures don't take into account the countless hours of our time in readying the event for you - and we accept that we will cop a significant loss on that aspect with the event's cancellation.

So, with that background, full entry refunds won't be offered.

From here, we need time to calculate all the expenses incurred to date so we can then calculate what pool of money remains to offer to entrants as a partial refund. At this point in time we don't know what that amount will be - not even a ballpark figure - so please be patient while we work through the numbers as our remaining bills fall due.

Once we have a total refund pool figure calculated, you will then have the option of accepting your share of this refund pool, or you will be able to offer your share as a donation to those affected by the bushfires (with the distribution of this donation yet to be determined - but it will remain local). That decision will be completely up to you. We want to emphasise that there is no pressure to donate your share of the refund pool, as we know many of you spent considerable money entering and travelling for the event. Likewise, if you would prefer to choose how your money is donated, we would suggest you apply for a refund and then you can allocate your share of the money individually.

We will be outlining a very strict timeline as to how the partial refunds will be processed, and if you wish to be refunded your share you will have set deadlines for applying - the onus will be on you to apply to us for your share of the refund, not the other way around (we chased you lot up enough preparing for the event!). If you do not apply, your share of the refund will automatically get included in the donation pool.

We hope this makes sense. Feel free to email any questions to hello@coastaleh.com.au.

Last one - we have what we think is a sweet idea for making use of the medals and singlets from 2019 (which we have boxes and boxes of!), as well as some of our prizes (hello Suunto!); it will be a fun way for entrants to still "earn" their finishers medal and singlet. More details to come on this after we get the refund pool stuff sorted - we hope to get this sorted during the next week.

Cheers - Chris and Matt