Michigan Cup Committee says "Let's Race!"

The good news: There IS going to be a Michigan Cup Race Series for 2020-21 - The Michigan Cup Committee approved a revised race calendar (see below).

Now the bad news: the COVID-10 pandemic will likely require extensive changes to how (and if) races are held, with great impact each skier's race experience.

COVID-19 pandemic and Michigan Cup racing

Race directors will struggle to maintain a safe environment for skiers:

• Directors need to maintain social distance between skiers. The registration area, start area, finish area, and the lodges used for changing, hanging out, awards and food are high risk areas. Some races courses are crowded, particularly multi-lap and relay races.
• How much sanitizing is required? Bathrooms and porta-johns?
• Visitors, spectators, volunteers, race officials, timers, lodge staff increase the crowding.
• Government-mandated rules could limit the number of people allowed to gather indoors or outdoors.
• Lodges may have their own safe-distancing rules that limit the number of people inside or out.

Race directors also have a few other worries:

• Will participation fall because some skiers will choose to skip racing this year because they fear infection?
• How much should I invest in the race beforehand (t-shirts, prizes)? Can I afford the expenses if the race is forced to cancel?
• Will I be able to get sponsors this year, or will they cut the budget?
• Will I be able to get volunteers? A timer?

There are a number of options race directors have at their disposal:

1. They could limit the size of the race. Some races have Michigan Cup, citizen and/or touring categories. Eliminating a category would reduce the number of skiers.
2. Ban spectators.
3. Online registration only.
4. Close the lodge. Skier cars become "tiny-lodges".
5. Move from mass starts to interval starts. Or use waves time slots: "Skiers in group A may start anytime between 9:00am and 9:30am. Skiers in group B may start anytime between 9:30am and 10:00am..."
6. No award ceremony. Finishes announced online. Awards sent via mail.
7. No buffet food table.

If a vaccine is released early AND there are enough doses for skiers AND skiers get vaccinated, things might be easier. The likelihood of this occurring, however, is very low.

The main takeaway for skiers is to plan for the worst and hope for the best. Don't be surprised if the lodge is closed or you can't register day of the race. Make sure you can lodge in your car. Don't complain if you're required to wear a mask.

Also remember that the Michigan Cup does not put on races and has no control over what race directors decide to do. The Michigan Cup selects races to be included in the series based on the quality of the race or the race organizers.

Virtual races

The Michigan Cup Committee discussed whether virtual races would be scored for Michigan Cup points, if any race directors decided to go virtual. Virtual racers use Strava or other software to race the designated race distance on same course but over several days or on different course on the same day or over several days. While the Committee encourages skiers to participate in virtual races, virtual races will not be scored for Michigan Cup Races because the course and conditions could greatly vary between racers. 

Michigan Cup budget in good shape

The Michigan Cup budget continues to cover expenses. There were more than normal expenses last year as we restocked medals and trophies, but this periodic bump is normal and offset by years with fewer expenses. There was discussion of charging races a fee to be part of the Michigan Cup, but some committee members noted that many of the races only break even or even run a deficit. The Committee decided to ask race directors to add a recommended donation field of $5 during online registration.   A discussion around asking for donations on paper forms was rejected by the race directors attending the meeting: paper forms would require someone to manually go through each form after the race to figure out if there was a donation.

Money allocated to supporting junior racing was left over from last year's budget. That money continues to be available, but no new money was allocated because to the uncertainty around the junior racing, particularly Junior Nationals.

Traverse City High School teams consolidated under Vasa Ski Club

The Traverse City High School teams have been merged from individual schools into the Vasa Ski Club. Formerly, the teams were jointly operated between the schools and the Vasa Ski Club, but the combination of public school and private school (St Francis) restrictions, plus issues with buses and insurance lead to the consolidation under the Vasa Ski Club. From a Michigan Cup standpoint, there is no change: the high school teams were already counted as part of Vasa Ski Club.

Brumbaugh Cup scoring rules updated

Jay Woodbeck and Kyle Hanson took over the scoring of the Brumbaugh Cup from Chris Jones partway through the season last year. They found some edge cases where they were not sure how to score:

• Do skiers not registered to a team count?
• How many skiers after the top 5 men / top 3 women offset (if any)?
• How to score teams without a full roster? 
• What happens if a woman skis in the men's event, where the men's and women's events are different distances (e.g., the Cote Dame Marie)?

A more compressive set of rules around the Brumbaugh proposed by Woodbeck and Hanson were adopted after discussion and some modification. The final draft is being edited for clarity and will be posted on the Michigan Cup website shortly.

Updated Michigan Cup Schedule 2020-2021

Only one change has been made to this season's schedule: The "Michael Seaman Memorial Classic" was moved up to January 30.

Notice that no distances are listed. We expect race directors may make changes to distances as part of their COVID-19 response and are waiting for more details about the races