Wicked Muddy Mainer Still Happening This Saturday

This Saturday a tradition continues.

The Muddy Mainer is a 4.5 mile obstacle course that runs through a muddy fields and water reservoirs.  Part of the fun is getting really dirty but also getting super physical in a fun competition in the middle of the Maine summer.

The day's races start off at 8 AM this Saturday.  The organizers have some special rules this year, as you can imagine, to reduce possible transmission from participant to participant of COVID-19 coronavirus.

Here are the outline of the changes they were laid out by the Muddy Mainer crew posted on Facebook on Wednesday night addressed to the participants of the contest:

• Preregistration will begin on Friday from 4 PM - 8 PM at the barn.  Bring a mask and use the 6 foot distance when preregistering.
• When preregistering, please come prepared with your waiver sent by email by printing it and bringing it with you to the preregistration.
• Day of the race, arrive 30 minutes prior to your race time.  If you arrive earlier, please stay in your car.
• Group heat starts are not happening.  Instead they will be staggering start times to avoid having so many people all together to start heats.  Basically, when you group is all together, they'll let you go ahead and start the race.
• No storage for your personal items, try to keep things in your car.
• Come dressed in your racing gear since there are fewer changing areas and they want to avoid people assembling in a small area.
• Use your buff, which you will be given at registration, as your cloth face mask.
• No spectators for the adult races.
• 1 guardian per child participant.
• No food vendors, no alcohol sales, common gathering areas or live music this year.
• No medals this year due to limited supply from manufacturers but you will receive a 'drink on us' from one of three restaurants.

Dealing with coronavirus with this year's event was difficult to deal with, but the crew felt that they could still keep the event going as they wrote in their Facebook post released Wednesday evening:

I want to preface this email with what a strange and difficult year it has been. As new information was released throughout the past few months, we knew we had a difficult decision to make. It has been a long, hard road navigating guidelines, recommendations, and all the curve balls that COVID-19 threw our way, but we believe that we can provide you with a fun and safe experience while mitigating risk. This year will definitely look and feel different, and we ask for your grace and understanding with all the changes we've had to implement. A few of them you may find are upgrades, others may be an inconvenience, please know that our intention is only to do what is right by you all in light of the current situation.

Our first change is that we will be offering pre-registration on FRIDAY evening from 4pm-8pm. This will be in the barn and we ask that you follow CDC physical distancing protocols during this time. If there are too many people in the barn at one time, please wait outside until they exit, there will be markings on where to enter, exit, stand, etc. We have attached a copy of our waiver to this email, we would appreciate if you could come with this filled out when you pick up your registration bag, as it would help with efficiency and cut down on unnecessary exposure risks. If you are unable to print, we will have them available on site. In your packet you will find your timing ankle bracelet, race bib, safety pins, Wicked Muddy Mainer 2020 shirt, sticker, and buff. Please remember to bring all of the necessary items with you on race day (timing bracelet, bib, safety pins, and buff).

RACE DAY:

We will have race day registration pick up as usual, for those of you that cannot pick your packet up on Friday. We are hoping the Friday pick up will greatly reduce the congestion within the barn.

When you arrive at the McGinn road please drive to the very end of the road for parking. There is a section of the parking lot that racers will need to cross, and more pedestrians heading to registration, please be cautious of this and of the race equipment. You should arrive 30 minutes prior to your race time to allow for registration. If you arrive earlier than that, please stay in your car until this time frame, we are trying to limit the number of people in one place. Another way that we are trying to aid physical distancing is with a staggered start time. We are going to try to stay around your start times, however as soon as you make it through registration and all of your teammates are here, you can hit the trail. We will not be doing group heat starts this year. Our announcer will still be there playing music to get you pumped up, and getting you onto the course, but you can start right away without the wait. Hopefully this will help spread people out along the course.

In the past we have had an area for personal items storage. Due to COVID-19 guidelines and to limit exposure risks, we will not be able to offer it this year. We know that everyone likes to bring a change of clothes, etc so we would suggest you keep these things in your car and we will have an area where we will store small items like car keys and cell phones. We will offer you a small baggie to "drop" your things into, then we will label it with your bib number, and store it until you pick it up, for a "no-contact" storage option.

Please come dressed in your race attire, there will be limited changing areas and we would like to reserve the area under the barn as a post-race changing room. This will cut down on lines and wait times, given the need for physical distancing.

Health and Safety Guidelines: The Wicked Muddy Mainer has provided neck buffs for each participant, volunteer, and staff. While we have a large parcel of land that promotes an easy opportunity for social distancing of 6', you may still find yourself in a situation that you can not maintain appropriate physical distancing, we ask you to please use the buffs as cloth face masks. You will find sanitizing stations before each obstacle for your safety. We will also be sanitizing high contact areas regularly and all of the ponds have been chlorinated for sanitation. Life jackets and lifeguards will be provided at swim obstacles and will be properly sanitized between uses. We will have first aid kits at each water station along with volunteers and Orrington EMS and Fire on site.

Unfortunately, due to restrictions we are not allowing spectators for the adult race. For the adult race, only racers and volunteers will be allowed in the venue. This will help us with our numbers and to cut down on large groups of people gathering in one place. We will need to limit 1 guardian per child for the kids race. We understand that this is a difficult pill to swallow and how disappointing it may be, however we have racked our brains to come up with a way to make the kids race work, and this is the only thing we could come up with. The Mini-Muddy Mainer start time is at 3pm and we will let the heats go by age, in a similar fashion to the adult race, more information on this to follow. This means that those of you running the race earlier in the day and then children running in the afternoon will need to leave, retrieve your children, and come back for the kid's race.

Once you cross the finish line, we would love for you to take photos, clean up, gather your group, and then head out to allow for more racers to enter the site. We will not be having any food vendors, alcohol sales, common gathering areas, or live music this year, as we need to follow the state guidelines. We were not able to obtain medals in time for the race this year due to product/supply chains and COVID-19 hoops. It will feel different for sure, but know that the excitement and adrenaline will follow you through your day. However, once you've crossed the finish line you will receive your "drink on us" from one of our 3 favorite local restaurants to enjoy at their establishments. Geaghans, Masons, or High Tide will serve you up a round and cheers to a job well done at the Wicked Muddy Mainer!

Thank you for all of your understanding and sticking with us during this tumultuous time. We look forward to seeing you on Saturday!

Stay safe and have fun,