Dear Reach the Beach Enthusiast,
We are excited to announce that we have formed a partnership with the Ragnar Relay Series. We believe that this partnership will make your Reach the Beach experience even more amazing in 2014 and beyond.
What’s staying the same?
- Mike and Rich - vision and leadership
- Same amazing volunteers and community connections
- Same fantastic New Hampshire course
What’s changing?
As part of this partnership, we will merge our Massachusetts race into the very popular Ragnar Cape Cod. This will give us additional resources and capability to make our flagship event, Reach the Beach New Hampshire, the best in the world.
We look forward to working with the folks at Ragnar to put on their race in Cape Cod and hope many of you will join us there. Participants in Ragnar Cape Cod will notice the strong community and volunteer connections that RTB will bring to support participants along the course.
RTB Massachusetts participants: we will send a follow up email shortly with instructions on how to transfer your registration to Ragnar Cape Cod.
What will improve?
Our partnership with Ragnar Relay will provide RTB participants with many benefits along with support infrastructure from Ragnar, including
- Pre-event team orientations at local retailers
- Online runner profiles and team management tools
- Dedicated customer service
- Increased race-day support
- Increased sponsorship
As we begin our 16th year we remain committed to our vision of offering the highest quality race experience, second to none. Each year we have challenged ourselves to raise the bar, and we believe this partnership does that once again; positioning our events for long term success and years of amazing RTB memories.
We believe this is the best way to continue the tradition of excellence that you have come to expect from RTB events. The additional resources and infrastructure that the Ragnar partnership brings will enable us to provide you with a premier race experience - the races that we have loved putting on and that you have loved to run.
Thank you so much for making Reach the Beach what it is today and thanks, in advance, for your continued support.
If you have any question feel free to contact us at [email protected] or [email protected].
Mike and Rich
Founders and Co-Race Directors
This doesn’t sound like a merger to me; it sounds like you are abandoning RTBMA and suggesting ragnar cape as an alternative. I’m very disappointed by the decision, particularly as someone who has run all 3 RTBMA’s. Can you share why this decision was made? Be straight with us… runners have sensitive BS detectors
I doubt I’ll do the cape relay for a couple reasons: getting from Ptown anywhere on a weekend is dicey at best, but after a 24 hour endurance event? No thanks. And I’m forking over $150 to run the race but also have to provide 3 volunteers? Huh?
Hi Kevin,
Thanks for your comment. First off, RTB Alum will NOT have a volunteer requirement for Cape Cod- it will be waived.
As we looked forward for ways to continue to raise the bar on our events, we needed access to more resources. Not only does this partnership provide these, but it also gives us the opportunity to influence all of the Ragnar events across the country. Our teams will be working together to leverage best practices and over the next several years, integrate these into how we put on all of our events. With the partnership, it just did not make sense to keep 2 relays one week apart. Since they had 350 teams last year compared to our 150, it was clear that more people preferred Cape Cod. Our teams are already working together to start building the community connections in the Cape Cod event that are (and will remain) a hallmark of Reach the Beach.
We will see what we can do about solving the traffic issue off the Cape :).
Mike
After 2 Ragnar relays under my belt and looking forward to another double medal this year I hope all the RTB runners enjoy the RAGNAR. The camaraderie is amazing. Change is hard and many just have to experience it for themsrlves the traffic at this time of the year is not an issue. Yes its still 200 mi or so back to Boston and Providence at least its not the summer crowds
Train hard have fun.
Bad Monkeys
As a runner of both relays ( yes back to back ) I had given up on Ragnar . Felt there race managment was not top priority. Examples 1. no consideration to canal bridge traffic 2. Out run support while running projected times. 3. Finish line not ready ,although merchandise tent was ,seemed to me selling there crap is more imprtant than supporting runners.
Please bring your course marking skills and transition setup to this party.
Thanks for the comment John! I hope you will give them another chance as over time we leverage the best practices from both companies into an improved racer experience across all of our events.
I think it’s terrible that Ragnar has chosen to disregard a really great relay route, the MA RTB. Ragnar puts on a decent relay, but it certainly needs help in a lot of areas. I believe Ragnar should focus on improving themselves before they go and merge with other events.
Diversity in the relay world, like many other places, is a very good thing.
Congrats on the partnership, guys! This seems like great news. As a 5-time RTB alum and a big admirer of Ragnar, I look forward to seeing the great things you will do together.