About Across the Years 2008 Registration

Overview

Across the Years is celebrating its Silver Anniversary this year. In the past we have had notable runners from a variety of states and countries, which has translated into some fantastic performances and records. While the race is open to all applicants, we have a small space and must limit enrollment. Therefore, please respect the dignity of the race by considering its history and intent before deciding to register for any race. Above all, we request that runners not register for races without intending to come.

In 2008, selection of entrants in Across the Years will be by means of a process the organizers prefer not to divulge. We will say only that it will be different from last year, and while some elements of randomness may be introduced, the selection process will be done differently this year.

• The only way to register is online, using the ATY registration program. If you are absolutely unable to do this for yourself, either get help from a friend, or contact the race organizers and someone will enter the information for you as you dictate it over the telephone. But please make every effort to do it yourself before following this option.
• The only payment supported is by check or money order. We have dispensed with taking credit cards.
• We are accepting registrations now.
• The online registration site will close at the stroke of midnight on Sunday August 3, 2008. That means you still have all day Sunday, but Monday is too late.
• We will select runners a few days afterward, to allow for last minute checks to arrive, on or about Sunday, August 10, 2008. Your check must be received by the time the roster is assembled.
• Checks will be cashed once you are assigned a race slot.
• When you register, you also have the option to be on a waiting list. If you are not selected and you do not want to be on the waiting list, your check wil be destroyed. This year the waiting list will not be published, but if you inquire, we will tell you how many people are ahead of you so can make plans. Last year we managed to get in almost everyone who wanted to run. That does not count those who withdrew from the list before having a chance to be assigned. The moral is if you hang in there, you have a good chance of getting in, but of course if you drop off the waiting list, you are out of the running.

Buddy Registration

Once again we are implementing a scheme wherein people may team up in the selection process. Space for this appears near the end of the registration form, but it is appropriate to mention it here. This is how it works:

• Any runner may team with any other runners, but we request that all runners on each team confirm their intent by means of the registration form.
• The form allows up to two persons to team up. To coordinate with more people than that, add other names in the text box, separated by commas.
• If the person you are teaming with is a previous ATY runner or has already registered for this year's race (and so is in the database), you may select that person's name from the dropdown menu. Otherwise, just type the name into the text field below the dropdown menu.
• The form allows for two extra people to be added. If you really want to team with more than that, just type their names into one of the text boxes, with commas separating the names, and we will figure out what to do.
• All runners in your group have a single equal opportunity to get in as though entered as a team. If the team is selected, all members get in. If not, then none get in.
• It is permissible for runners who team together to select different races or different start dates. Sometimes one runner will run one day and be crewed by his or her spouse, and the other will run another day. This is allowed.

Selecting Multiple Races

At Across the Years there are three different races, with a total of six different start times: The 72-hour race starting on December 29th, the 48-hour race on December 29th or 30th, and the 24-hour race on December 29th, 30th, or 31st. Rather than signing up for only one race and start time, you are permitted to select as many options as you would like. Being flexible in this way will increase your chances of being picked. However, you are required to designate your preferred race. This method is an improvement over what we did last year.

Selection of races on the form is by dropdown menus. Select 1 for your preferred race, and prioritize any others by assigning them higher numbers.

If you select a mixture of race lengths, your advance payment must be for the most expensive race regardless of your preference. For instance, if you request both the 72-hour and a 48-hour race, you will pay for the 72-hour race. If you are selected for the 48-hour race, you will receive a refund for the difference in cost.

Starting Registration

Most of what you need to know is on the registration form itself. Please read everything that is on it carefully. The following walk-through is provided for clarification.

• Click on the Register link in the navigation panel to begin. You begin by verifying you have read through these instructions. There are links to this information on the form itself, but you may save yourself some grief and the possibility of having to start over if you just read the instructions first.
• When you continue you will be on a page that offers two choices.
• If you have run Across the Years before, even many years ago, you are in our database, and are classified as a Returning Runner. Click this even if you registered at some time in the past but did not run for some reason, such as if you tried last year but did not get in. If that happened any time in the last four years, we should have a record of you. If you are unsure, click on the link List previous runners and look yourself up. Following this path enables us to unearth what we know about you and plug it into the form, and also provides opportunity to update our records.
• If you are a newcomer to ATY, press New Runner. At the end of the process, a new record will be created for you, and you will be assigned a permanent RID (Runner ID) number, which will become your permanent bib number and also your unique identifier for the sake of recording statistics.
• Returning Runner: If you choose this path, you come to a page with a dropdown menu. Over 600 names of previous runners are listed there, in order by last name, along with their RIDs. Scroll down, select your name, and press Registration Form, which will take you to the registration form. Notice that your RID is shown in a bold red box at the top. Remember this number for future reference.
  
  You will see some fields pre-filled in on the form. Personal data — your home address, phone, and email address — are not shown on this page, to avoid strangers from obtaining that information about you. Be sure to add the information as if you were a new runner, and to update anything that needs changing. This will result in our records being updated.
• New Runner: Pressing this takes you directly to a blank registration form. When you are done, a new record and RID will be created for you.

The Registration Form

At various places you will see links to this help information. Use this page to answer questions about any specifics. You may also send email to the race organizers, but be aware that there will be some turnaround time in getting back to you.

Before the first field to be filled out is a list of race prices. The price for each race type is the same regardless of start date. As noted here, this year obtaining a goody bag is optional. See below for details.

Notice there are numerous required fields. Failure to supply intelligible information to any of these inputs will result in your being unable to go on.

• Race Cost:Across the Years gives runners more than any other race. Despite this, we have bent over backwards to keep the cost to runners as low as possible. The race cost is as follows:

  	Standard Cost	Without Goodies
  72-Hour	$320	$240
  48-Hour	$240	$160
  24-Hour	$160	$80

  Notice that it is possible to opt out of accepting the goody bag and save $80. See below for details. regardless of whether they accept the goody bag.
• Which Race: As described above, you may check one race, or several, depending on your willingness to be flexible about start times. Select races by order of preference. Do not select a race that you do not wish to run. You must accept the race you are selected for, but we will try our best to give you your preference.
• Goody Bag: This choice is new this year. At most races, you sign up and get a number of things in addition to the opportunity to race, such as shirts and jackets. In recent years, Across the Years has one of the most generous goody bags in ultraracing, with garments and other objects totaling, by some estimates, up to $150 in value.
  
  Because the price of just about everything has gone up, we have had to raise prices this year. On the upside, those who do not care about the contents of the goody bag, and just want to keep costs down, can get in the race for less than it cost last year. The cost of the goody bag is included in the cost of the race, but if you select No where it offers you a choice, we will deduct $80 from the total cost of your race. Some leftover items may be available after the race, but you should not count on this. You will still get gifts offered by sponsors, regardless of whether you accept the goody bags.
• Distance Goal: All we want here is a reasonable integer number of miles or kilometers, so race officials will know what to expect. If you've checked races of different length, put your goal for your preferred race.
• Trying for a record: Check Yes if you plan to attempt to set an officially kept record. The various record keeping institutions require that certain procedures be observed for the sake of validation, so race officials want to know about your intent in advance. Do not check Yes if you merely hope to set a personal record.
• Waiting List: If you are not selected for a race, your check will be destroyed. You may instead check Yes on this field to be put on a waiting list in case there are openings later. If so, it's possible your check will not be destroyed until January, 2009. The waiting list will not be published.
• First Name, Last Name: Here we would like your real name, or some reasonable approximation — whatever you would put on a credit card. If you're a Robert but always go by Bob, then by all means use the name you use. The reason we ask for this is not for the sake of formality, but to keep us from going nuts keeping records straight. We've spent hours matching up the Richards with the Dicks, the Ricks, the Riches, the Rics and so forth. But see also the comments on the next field. It makes a difference when calculating lifetime mileages and other statistics.
• Nickname: This is where you list any name you are more commonly known by, e.g., for Davids known as Dave and Williams known as Bill, etc. The purpose of this is for printing your name on your race bib, and for listing you in the results. The race organizers will use discernment in deciding what to accept here and may change it.
  
  If you list more than one sequence of letters with a space between, they will be taken as both first and last names. If you have a two-part nickname, also include your last name.
  
  For instance, if your name is Thomas Smith, and you are called Big Tom, enter "Big Tom Smith" in the nickname blank. If you put just Big Tom, your last name would not appear. Be sure to check what comes out on the summary page. If it doesn't quite work, change it.
• Date of Birth In 2005, we began collecting the exact date of birth for runners for the sake of accuracy in record keeping. For those whose birthdays we do not know, we have assigned the date January 1st of their birth year. If you are a returning runner, please check what comes up in the dropdown menus, and correct the date if necessary.
• Gender: This should be self explanatory. We hope no runner wonders about which radio button to check here, but if anyone has doubts, stand in front of a mirror after taking a shower, take a good look, and give us your best guess. If you need more help, I'm sure someone from our skilled medical support team would be willing to help you figure it out.
• Email: To benefit fully from what ATY has to offer as a race, you must supply us an email address by which we can get in touch with you.
• Address Lines 1 and 2: This is for snail mail purposes, for instance, if we have to return a money order.
• City: Also for snail mail purposes.
• State / Province or Region: If you are in the US or Canada, select your state or province from the dropdown menu. Otherwise leave this blank and type in something in the Region box.
• US ZIP or Non-US Postal Code: If you are in the US enter a standard format US ZIP code. Persons who reside outside the US enter something in the postal box.
• Country: Select from the dropdown menu. Checking of other address fields depends on whether you select the US or another country, and will ignore anything irrelevant. We won't guarantee this part of the program is bulletproof. Please double check your entry and don't enter anything in irrelevant fields if you have hopes that your registration will be recorded. If you have any doubts that it will be correct, repeat your address in the comments box.
• US Phone or Non-US Phone: If you are in the US, use the top set of boxes, entering area code, exchange, number, and optional extension. Otherwise, skip this line and add a number in the non-US box. International phone number formats vary so we can't check it. Make sure it's right.
• Other Phone: This is for a cell phone or any other alternate phone you care to enter. It's an optional field. If you are in the US, we prefer you to use the NNN-NNN-NNNN format.
• Garments 1 and 2: Designate your size. We take gender into consideration when ordering. Usually the second garment is a bulkier or fancier item, and some people like a size larger, depending on what it is.
  
  The instructions already say this, but in order to be clear — you automatically get one of each garment with your entry fee, if you have selected the goody bag. The dropdown menus are for extras that you may want, which will cost extra money. Most people are happy with one each, but we'll be happy to order more for you. The extras will be the same size as the ones you get automatically.
• Shoe Size: There is a possibility that we may have one or more items in the goody bag that depend on your shoe size, such as gaiters or socks. This has not been confirmed yet, but we are recording shoe sizes just in case. In 2007 we had to gather these mid-year, and it was a big hassle.
• Visitor Meal Tickets: The instructions on the form should be clear. The aid station food is for the runners only. Please remind your crew of that, as tempting as it may be to just let them graze off the aid-station fare. We order catered meals for the runners according to the number of people running. These high-quality meals come at a cost, and are paid for as part of the runner's entry fee. We can add more people (e.g., crew) to the number of meals we order. Buying a visitor's meal ticket is the way to let us know know that you want to be on the list for a particular meal, served at approximately the times shown on the schedule. Anything else your crew, family, and friends would like to eat you should plan on supplying for them yourself.
• Require Vegetarian Meals: Again, this box refers to the catered meals that are brought in. Knowing how many people would like this will help us in ordering for the race.
• Indoor Tent This restriction is new in 2008. If you plan to set up a personal tent inside the large, heated tent, we urge you — please bring the smallest tent you can function with! If you can survive with just a mat on the floor, then please do it. Floor space is limited, and we are afraid that not everyone will fit. We are allowing inside tents up to 100 square feet (10x10), but are asking you to bring smaller if possible. Also, if you have a maximum size tent and can double up with someone, please do so.
  
  You may set up a mansion of any size outdoors
• Your Running Biography: In the world of ultrarunning, where races are typically small, runners like to know about the running history of others who will be there. This is particularly true at a race like Across the Years, where runners perform in close proximity over an extended period, increasing an extraordinary sense of community.
  
  We desire to have 100% participation by all runners in submitting something for the biographies page. It does not have to be elaborate. Most people contribute just a couple of sentences or a paragraph. You might include how long you've been running, how many ultras you've run, any records you've set, your PR history, and that sort of thing. But it needn't be limited to that. Be creative.
• Web Address (URL) to Picture: If you are a returning runner and see a picture of yourself, you will see a path in the box that looks like /bioimgs/rid.jpg where rid is your permanent runner runner ID. If you have another picture you would like to submit, you can type in the Web address (URL) here. Include the http part, e.g., http://www.somewhere.com/pics/you.jpg Be sure you have permission to use this picture, because it will be copied to our site. You may also email an image (preferably a JPEG format file) to webmaster Lynn Newton, who will likely harass repeatedly you until you send one.
• Registration Buddies: This was explained earlier on this page, but appears at this point in the sequence on the registration form.
• Volunteer Service: We regard volunteer service as important. One reason ATY is one of the greatest races is because of the generous help of our volunteers. We hope you volunteer at other ultramarathons as well, but your past volunteer record at ATY might influence whether you are selected for this year's race, and we would like to be reminded of it.
  
  Please itemize this concisely in list form, using one line per year or day of service:
  
  
  1. Which years;
  2. Which days;
  3. How many hours each shift;
  4. In what capacity you have served.
• Your Comments: Use this box to add anything you'd like, including your unvarnished opinion of the race committed, your favorite joke, your philosophy of life, whatever. This section will be read by race organizers, and if it requires action, we'll get back to you eventually.
• Release Form: It is required for you to read the waiver, and to click the radio button that indicates you have read it and accept its terms. You will be asked to sign it when you mail in the registration.
• Share Your Email Address: Some sponsors ask for access to the email addresses of runners as a condition of their sponsorship. We agree to share these with them, but only with your consent. The default is No. Check Yes if you are willing to let us do this.

When you have completed all fields, press Continue to Summary. The program will block you from continuing if you have forgotten anything required, or if any of the information you have entered does not make sense to a stupid computer.

Please check every item for correctness. Once you press Complete Registration in the next step, it's a major hassle to fix things. If you see anything wrong on this page, press Make Revisions to go back to the previous page and change anything. Do not attempt to make changes in the text area boxes on this page. It will not work!

When you are satisfied that everything is correct, press Complete Registration. You will be taken to a plain black and white page. YOU ARE NOT DONE YET!

Print and Mail the Registration Page

The instructions on this page should be clear, but to emphasize:

• Read the instructions at the top of the page
• Print two copies — one for yourself and one to mail in.
• Sign the waiver at the end.
• Write a check or money order for the total shown. Send the check and the signed copy by ordinary mail to
  
  

  Across the Years
  P.O. Box 21
  Silverton, CO 81433

Runner selection will happen around August 10th. You will be notified by email whether you are selected or not. Be sure to watch the Web site, particularly the ATY Blog and the Discussion Group for the latest news about the race.