Relay Race - Green Mountain Relay - Vermont 200-mile long distance 24 hour team relay race adventure

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GREEN MOUNTAIN RELAY
OVER THE RIVER AND THROUGH THE WOODS

A VERMONT LONG DISTANCE, 24 HOUR, TEAM RELAY RACE ADVENTURE

JEFFERSONVILLE TO BENNINGTON - VERMONT
36 LEGS, 200 MILES, 7 COVERED BRIDGES...

"It's not the Olympics, you're out there to have fun with your friends." - DD TeamZinc

"One thing that struck me about this year’s race that hadn’t made such an impression last year was the beauty of the course." - TK - Pigtails Flying

Final Results Posted

2010 Date - June 19th - 20th

Thanks to the 2009 GMR Runners and Volunteers!

The Green Mountain Relay is a 200-mile team distance relay race adventure in Vermont designed for runners of all abilities. Scheduled the third weekend of June to take advantage of the Summer Solstice, the intimate GMR route travels north-south through the heart of Vermont and the Green Mountains, with a majority of the route following or paralleling historic Route 100. The fourth annual running of the Green Mountain Relay will be Saturday - Sunday, June 20th - 21st, 2009.

Start your running season off with a fun and challenging adventure with 5 or 11 of your running friends on one of America's most scenic relay race routes.

COURSE

Route 100, which appears on many "Top 10" lists of American's most scenic roads, is a bucolic, two-lane road lined with maple trees, passing through narrow valleys, picking its way around cornfields, and traveling through small villages rather than ignoring them.

Runners will experience all that is special about Vermont: country stores, sugar houses, quaint country inns, covered bridges, and revolutionary war period homes, buildings, and cemeteries. Route 100 weaves through small towns and villages, past mooing cows, crowing roosters, and the roaring waterfalls in Granville Gulf. Runners cross over seven historic covered bridges, go up and over challenging hills such as Terrible Mountain, and finish with the Bennington Memorial on the horizon.

The relay begins 45 minutes from Burlington in the small town of Jeffersonville and finishes in Bennington.

TEAMS

There are two main divisions of teams in the Green Mountain Relay: 12-person and Ultra teams. Both divisions have competitive and non-competitive options.

12-person teams (7 - 12 runners) have six competitive categories to choose from: Men's, Women's, Mixed, Open, Master's, or Hash House Harrier (the red dress division) categories. Each person on a competitive 12-member team runs three legs of the race in rotation, with legs averaging 5.6 miles in distance.

High School teams are also invited to participate and have a discounted registration fee.

Ultra teams (4 - 6 runners) have three options to choose from. Ultra teams can choose the 6 x 1 option where each runner is responsible for one leg of the race averaging 33.3 miles or the 6 x 6 option where each runner is responsible for 6 legs run in rotation as the 12-person teams does. The Super Ultra option is for ultra runners who want the challenge of running the route solo or with a team of up to three runners.

The Helter Skelter category is available for both 12-person and Ultra teams and is a non-competitive category. Whereas competitive teams must follow the standard relay rules of keeping the running order of their team intact, the Helter Skelter category is for teams that choose to have their runners run in any order they want. No prizes are awarded to the top teams in the Helter Skelter category.

Teams start in waves from 5:30 AM to 1:00 PM - a team's starting time is dependent on a team's pace.

Are you an individual runner looking to join a team, or a team looking for runners? Check out our Team Matching Message Board.

VOLUNTEERS

In order for The Green Mountain Relay to be a success, each team will be responsible for choosing one of the two volunteer options – one of which benefits local community non-profit organizations.

In this way, we will secure the commitment of the more than 200 volunteers necessary to act as Race Marshals, staffing the Start and Finish areas, and the 35 exchange points along the course.

REGISTRATION

Registration for the 2009 Green Mountain Relay opens November 1st and is limited to the first 100 teams.

THE GREEN MOUNTAIN RELAY IS A FORM OF ADVENTURE RACE

The GMR is an adventure race in that teams are running continuously through the night to reach the finish. Many find the highlight of their experience to be their run in the middle of the night under the stars or full moon. But as it is an adventure race with a 200-mile route, teams must accept some responsibilities:

Teams are self supporting - teams are responsible to stocking their vans with their own water, food, first aid supplies, etc.
While directional arrows are placed on the course, the responsibility of knowing and following the prescribed course rests with each participant. Please always print, study and understand the leg maps available for print on this website.
Hazards are not marked - runners should proceed with caution
As the route is rural and isolated, medical attention could take a while. Cell phone coverage is spotty, so if the injury is serious enough, it may be better to transport the injured person to the closest medical facility (locations and maps in the Relay Handbook)
The route is not closed to traffic - runners are running on the side of the road. Therefore, appropriate rules (for safety and for consideration to the people who live there) apply. These rules are similar to USA Triathlon sanctioned events as their races are usually on open courses. Failure to follow these rules will result in the entire team being disqualified:
- No headsets, radio and/or headphones/ MP3 Players are allowed
- Use the portable toilets that are available at the exchanges to relieve yourself. You will be disqualified if you are seen relieving yourself on the ground.
- No littering - trash receptacles will be available at each exchange