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April 4, 2022 TIME TO GEAR UP!
It's April! What a glorious month where winter, summer, fall, and spring collide in the Finger Lakes in an unpredictable and haphazard display of indecision (and not-so-glorious climate change). The Seneca7 is on, and we are so ready to welcome you with two years worth of pent up joy and enthusiasm!
Some things will be a bit different this year, beginning with packet pickup and the pre-race briefing. Even though you are healthy and vaccinated, we can't crowd our field of 1800 into the seats at the Smith Opera House for "the Jeff and Jackie show." Instead, your team will be receiving a separate email with instructions and a link to a virtual pre-race briefing. The briefing is mandatory viewing for at least one member of every team and there will be a little Easter egg (or two) in the presentation to let you know how to confirm that you've viewed it. Watching the briefing is a condition of participation (yes, that means if you don't watch it your team can't start) so please be on the lookout for those instructions mid-month.
There will also be two live Zoom Q & A sessions, Wednesday 4/20 at 7pm and Thursday 4/21 at 1pm for you to ask general or really, really, really specific questions about the race. Of course, it would be a great idea to watch the pre-race briefing *before* the Q & A session, in the off chance that we might have anticipated your concern and answered it there. But even if you don't have a question, feel free to log into a Zoom to see Jeff's new stand up routine and Jackie juggling flaming bowling pins while riding a unicycle*. Those links will also be contained in the forthcoming email.
Packet pickup will be Saturday, April 23rd from noon-3pm at the Finger Lakes Welcome Center located on Geneva's beautiful lakefront (and very near the finish line for the race). Only one member of the team is allowed to attend this and it's probably a good idea to plan on that person bringing their proof of vaccination as we are still unsure whether that will be required at entry (protocols are continuously evolving for major events).
But aren't you excited to be participating in a major event again?!? We are very much looking forward to seeing your smiling, grimacing, wincing, laughing, selfie-star faces in three weeks!
Stay tuned for the links to the pre-race briefing and the Zoom as well as more details about your team's start wave assignment and additional information.
December 28, 2021 YEAR END UPDATE!
We write to you at the end of a long year, full of all the trials and tribulations that we don't need to enumerate because we know you've felt them, too. So it's nice to think for a moment about the 2022 Seneca7 as an event that brings joy and that we're able to look forward to together.
A field of 250 teams and 200 volunteers are on board to make this happen in April. We are continuing the preparations and coordination with the four counties and 16 towns & villages that we pass through along the 77.7 mile route. With vaccinated runners and masked volunteers, we are striving to provide a safe experience for everyone. We are also engaged in contingency planning so that an uptick in infections or other serious developments doesn't take us by surprise the way the initial shutdowns of 2020 did.
In the meantime, you can check out the website to see a list of participating teams, review the team checklist, get your team link sent to you if you lost it (or it is languishing in your spam folder), update shirt sizes and get waivers signed (using that team link), and just start getting excited for the spring!
November 6, 2021 GENERAL REGISTRATION CLOSED; BIKE AND CHARITY SLOTS AVAILABLE
General registration for teams previously registered for the cancelled 2020 race has ended. Slots are still available for teams wishing to travel by bike (during their off-legs) and those teams wishing to support a charity through their entry. Registration for bike and charity teams will be held November 7-30. More information and registration can be found here.
October 28, 2021 SENECA7 2022!
We have received provisional, conditional approval to bring back the live, in-person, rollicking fun Seneca7 around-the-lake relay race on April 24, 2022!
Currently, registration is underway for teams who entered the 2020 event but had to defer participation due to the global pandemic shut down. Two years later, it's possible for us to reconvene (with some reasonable modifications), and we're looking forward to welcoming them back! Of course, there might be some teams who can't make it back with us in 2022 and we've allowed them to--just this once--transfer their entry to another team. So if you're looking to get in on the fun, that might be a way to do it. You could try linking up with a non-returning team via the Seneca7 facebook group (or however else people communicate these days).
While we do expect most teams to return, there will probably be space available for limited new registration in two categories: bike teams (who must commit to use bikes only, no motorized team vehicle), and charity slots (a higher price point that you can pay, or fundraise, as a direct donation to one of our community partner agencies).
Registration for those entry types will begin on November 7th (at 7am of course). Stay tuned for additional updates on the Seneca7 website (seneca7.com) and through social media. This won't be the Halloween morning registration trick-or-treat of years past. But maybe next time we will be back to the normal stress-inducing chaos of the registration free-for-all.