All Mammoth Riders and Families should have received this email in the “Single Track Times” on 7/28/2020 – we are posting it below for general reference.
Dear Montana League Friends and Families,
We hope you all have been enjoying the past month of the 2020 regular season team practices. We know we have seen a lot of big smiles and have heard some great feedback from the teams!
We wanted to fill you in on an update about the 2020 racing season. We have made the tough decision not to move forward with league-wide in-person events under the current restrictions. We are bummed to have made the call, but we have looked extensively into options and think it’s the right decision based on the unrealistic draw on volunteers for the two day events we came up with to meet health department restrictions, the lack of community focus and “what it’s all about” as a result of the restrictions, and the risk of exposure to Covid-19 to our student athletes, volunteers, and families. If the restrictions let up, we will revisit and most definitely pull together a race or two if we can. If that is the case, we will let you all know as soon as possible.
In lieu of having races on the calendar for now, our focus is going to be on the great team practices you all know and love, league-wide zoom calls with guest athletes, and a virtual challenge.
For the zoom calls, we have some pretty cool athletes lined up to chat with the kids. Marathon National Champion and Flathead local, Rose Grant; XC National Champion Chloe Woodruff; and skills guru and trials pro Ryan Leech. Each guest will have their own Zoom call scheduled where they have a chance to introduce themselves, talk about their career, suggest a skill for the kids to work on, and finish with q&a with the kids. Look for a schedule of calls and instructions for how to join to come.
As for the virtual challenge, we will do a week long points based challenge focusing on the adventure side of things. Kids will have the opportunity to earn points for everything from riding new-to-them trails, spotting and identifying wildflowers along the trail, riding in their wildest costumes, logging mileage, crushing vert, having positive interactions with other trail users, and more. We will have fun prizes, team competitions, and will share stories from riders throughout the league. This will go down in early September and we will share the details in the coming weeks.
We know it’s not the normal season that we all know and love, but we are looking forward to tying the state together virtually for now, and we can’t wait to introduce all of the new families to what NICA racing is all about whenever the time is right.
Sincerely,
Sam and the MICL Team