Inspired by the Iditarod, we wanted to have a Great Race of our own!
Activate a new trackable, create a great profile for it, and come down to celebrate the GeocacheAlaska! Trackable Iditarod 2023! This race doesn't require you to have a team of dogs, or be able to withstand frozen conditions. Heck, you don't even have to go to Nome (unless you really want to!)
No, your travel bug will be doing the racing here. To sign up for the race, racers will need to bring a new trackable with NO MILES on it to our event. They'll then check in with the Trail Captain to kennel up their trackable for the race. Laminated tags will be given to racers to put on their travelbugs explaining that the bug is in the race and encouraging finders to move the travel bug along. This is optional and cachers do not have to put this on their trackable if they do not want to.
To pre-register, email eaccipi@geocachealaska.org with your Trackable's TB CODE. Same Day Race Registration is available; it just helps me to make a great Google Sheets if I have the information beforehand. If you are not in Alaska or will be unable to attend the kick-off event but still want to compete, please mail your TB to GeocacheAlaska! c/o Trackables Race, PO Box 240933, Anchorage, AK 99524 . Please give time for your Trackable to get to Anchorage - our mail can be fast or slow, depending on the week. Trackables received after the race kicks off will be late to the game.
*If you are international and want to order a new trackable from GeocacheAlaska! or Geocaching.com and have it sent directly to us, please use the following format for mailing. This will allow us to know who ordered the tag so we can reach out to you via Geocaching Messenger to give you your activation information.
Mail To:
GeocacheAlaska! / [username]
PO Box 240933
Anchorage, AK 99524
Trackables will race along the Iditarod Northern Route. You can see which checkpoints they're at based on how many miles they've travelled!
We'll be updating the results weekly/monthly/etc. in this Google Sheets: CLICK HERE
Qualifications
- Travel bugs must be new. In other words: They can not have been dropped or visited anywhere prior to being dropped into The Trackable Iditarod 2023. Thus all travel bugs start at the same location with zero (0) miles.
- Travel bugs should be logged into the event as dropped prior to the event.
- Official drop off on Thursday during the event with eaccipi. She will be near the GeocacheAlaska! banner.
- Each caching name may enter up to 3 tags into the race, for a maximum of 3 racers per caching name.
- Proxy tags are not allowed. In the real Iditarod, sometimes conditions or team performance make a racer scratch. After the competition concludes, racers are welcome to send proxies out in the world to mush another day. :)
Rules
- Do not move your own travelbug.
- Practice good sportsmanship. If you encounter another racer, don’t hinder its movement (place in high difficulty/terrain caches, hold onto for a long time, etc).
- Standings will be by geocaching.com mileage. Each visit and drop, by any cacher will count. What geocaching.com shows as mileage, is what mileage you get.
Race Tracking
- Overall tracking will be done by eaccipi.
- Updated standings posted at least monthly on the GeocacheAlaska! FB page. Be sure to Like and Follow the page here: https://www.facebook.com/GeocacheAlaska
- Racers can always check the status via the Google Sheets: CLICK HERE
Awards
- First Racer to 1049 miles (c'mon, it's the Iditarod).
- Special Awards, modeled after awards given on the trail
- Spirit of Iditarod - given to the first racer to reach the McGrath checkpoint (311 miles)
- Halfway Award - given to the first racer to reach the halfway point, the Cripple checkpoint (425 miles)
- First Racer to the Yukon - given to the first racer to reach the Ruby checkpoint (545 miles)
- Fish First Award - given to the first racer to reach the Kaltag checkpoint (629 miles)
- Gold Coast Award - given to the first racer to to reach the Unalakleet checkpoint (714 miles)
- Achieve More Award - given to the first racer to reach the White Mountain checkpoint (898 miles)
- Red Lantern Award - given to the racer with the least amount of miles travelled at the conclussion of the race, so long as they've travelled at least 975 (the current length of the iditarod).
Race Start
All travelbugs are to be logged into this event with zero miles prior to the event on Thursday. The Events Committee will be collecting this years racers on Thursday from 6:30p until 7:30pm at the event site. They will have a table set up with signage. Within two weeks, all racers will be transported to an undisclosed cache by an undisclosed cacher and released. Racers can be discovered at the event, but can not be retrieved by anyone except Trail Captain eaccipi.