November 23-24, 2024

Dinosaur Valley Endurance Run

Race Information

Packet Pickup, Drop Bags, Spectators, Crew, Pacers, Cutoffs, Medical.

All are welcome, but we actively invite and support the following groups to join our events:

(Click each one to learn more)

Back-of-the-Pack Athletes / Walkers / Hikers

Athletes with Disabilities or Impairments

Aging Athletes

Packet Pickup

Packet Pickup will be at the race site but set apart from the start line. All packets will be pre-stuffed and sorted in bib number order. Bring your bib number to make it go quickly - they'll be published on the website race week.

What am I picking up? The following things will be in your packet:

Your bib (write medical concerns we should know about on the back as well as emergency contact numbers)

Safety pins. Pin your bib wherever you want as long as it's on the front of you AND my volunteers can clearly read it at each aid station. Keep the number horizontal so it's easier to read and so the chip on the back of the bib will work with the timing equipment. If you fold your bib, do not bend the foam chip on the back of the bib.

Your Entrant Shirt - you can swap shirts if we have extras.

Your Parking Pass. Put it on your car windshield to get free access during the weekend at the State Park.

Once your race distance starts, you have forfeited all rights to your packet, and the shirt in the packet will be made available to runners who showed up to the start of the race.

Valley Village

Valley Village is our name for the event site, and this is where you will find the crewing setup, the start/finish line, and the Cedar Brake aid station.

There will be an area marked off for runners to put their supplies. They can space out in this large area and have a camp chair, 10x10 canopy tent (especially helpful if it’s raining), and all their food and beverage supplies. It's a place for your crew to hang out too. Unlike past years, the car is too far away to crew from. Crews should be prepared to bring supplies from the parking area to the shuttle buses and then another couple tenths of a mile to the setup area from where shuttle buses drop off.

Valley Village Rules:

For their safety, children, ages 10 and under, have to be supervised (no more than 30 feet away from their guardian and remaining visible to the guardian at all times). No more than one warning will be given about any unsupervised children before we ask the children and their guardian to leave the site.
Leashed dogs are allowed. Lead length can't be more than 10 feet total. And of course, if we find a dog to be overly aggressive or agitated by the crowd or other animals, they could be asked to leave.
All fires must be self-contained and off the ground. No fire pits or fire rings can be dug into the ground. Someone in your crew must be within 10 feet of the fire at all times.
State Park quiet hours will apply from 10 pm to 8 am Saturday night.
We follow "Leave No Trace" principles. Leave the area the way you found it - that includes packing your trash out with you and not altering terrain or plants in the area.

Friday Set-up Option: Crews can come pick out a 10x10 area and bring things to set up in the Valley Village area on Friday, 12 pm to 4 pm. Please stake down any canopy tents well in case there is bad weather overnight. No food should be left in the Valley Village area Friday so that wildlife aren't attracted. There will be no supervision in Valley Village so set-up and leave things at your own risk.

Drop Bags

At the Start/Finish/Cedar Brake Aid Station: Drop bags can be left in a specific area ONLY IF YOU HAVE NO CREW. We will have an area set up called "Crew Area E". In the Crew section of this page, there is a diagram showing this spot. It will be uncovered and exposed to the elements, so plan accordingly. You may have a camp chair, drop bag, and a small cooler only tightly kept together in the area. Again, this is only for solo entrants with no crew/spectators to leave things.

At the Fence Line Aid Station: 100K and 100 milers may put a drop bag out at the Fence Line aid station by dropping it in the designated area at the start line on Saturday morning. Bags should be labeled with your name and bib number. The drop bags will be collected and transported after the race start so by the time we load, transport, and unload, don’t anticipate getting your bag the first time you reach the aid station, only 2.5 miles in! Once they are at Fence Line, they will be spread out on tarps and sorted by bib number if the volunteers have time.

Please exercise reason regarding the size of your drop bag. It should not be bigger than 2 ft by 2 ft by 1 ft. Secure any liquids or fragile items for transport. It will be uncovered and exposed to the elements, so plan accordingly.

Spectators

Spectators are allowed in the crewing area at the Start/Finish/Cedar Brake Aid Station. Only ONE crew/spectator vehicle per entrant allowed for parking. Consolidate cars in town in Glen Rose before coming out to the parking area so you won't be turned away.

Crews

Breaking crew information into a couple sections:

General Rules all crew must follow. Read carefully!
Crewing areas within Valley Village and how and where to crew
Priority Groups - how to make sure your group is one for the best crewing location!

General Rules for Crews (IMPORTANT):

Only ONE crew/spectator vehicle per entrant allowed for parking. Consolidate cars in town in Glen Rose before coming out to the parking area so you won't be turned away.
Crew can assist their participant in the Valley Village area at Cedar Brake Aid Station ONLY. Crews may only access their runners within 200 yards of the aid station or at their car. Participants may "check out" from the race at the Headquarters tent and go to their car via shuttle to sleep or even leave the race course but must "check in" at HQ when returning.
No crewing at Fence Line aid station unless your crew is volunteering at Fence Line aid station already.
Only one crew member can approach the food tent to get hot food and drink for their participant to prevent congestion in that area.
Crews may not eat or drink from the aid stations (does not apply to pacers).
Failure by any crew member to follow the rules set out here may result in disqualification of their runner.

Crewing Areas in Valley Village:

Crew Area A - Priority Group Crew Space: The 4-8 Groups with the Largest Presence will get prime location space in Crew Space A with a dedicated 20 foot by 20 foot labeled area for their crew. We do ask that you get all of your participants who listed your club to use this space so that the general crew space can be used by others. Read the next section for how to get your club to earn a spot!
Crew Area B – Crew Groups wanting Staked Space for the Whole Weekend: there will be spots that are spaced out with walking lanes and sized to accommodate 10 foot by 10 foot pop-up canopies. These are the closest crew areas to the aid station and end of each loop that are available after the priority crew space for large running groups.
Crew Area C – Overflow for Crew Groups: This is overflow space for those multi-person crews who want to stake out a 10’x10’ area. They are farther from the action and for those who arrive after Crew Area B is full. A large portion of this crewing area is up a hill.
Crew Area D – No Canopy Area: This is for those without multi-person crews and who do not want to erect a pop-up canopy tent or have a large area. This is perfect for hanging out as a solo crew member or as a couple with camp chairs and a couple bags of supplies.
Crew Area E – Solo Athletes AND Quick Crew Option: Participants with NO crew may leave a camp chair, bag, and cooler in a consolidated manner in this area. The entire area will not be covered. Those crews who want to support their athletes quickly and close to the aid station and course may step into this designated area only if their athlete is actually with them, and then the crew must leave the area with all of their gear when the athlete goes back out to the course

Priority Groups and how to make sure your group is one!

The 4 to 8 Groups with the Largest Presence will get prime location space in Crew Space A with a dedicated 20 foot by 20 foot labeled area for their crew. We do ask that you get all of your participants who listed your club to use this space so that the general crew space can be used by others.

How Clubs with Prime Spots Will be Determined:

1 Point for every entrant who has listed your organization in the “Running club or groups you are involved with” during registration. 1 additional point if the entrant is in the 100 miler or 100K as those participants need more crewing.
5 Points (total, not each) for public social media promotion of the event by your club or group (not by an individual, but by your official group/club account). Email an example if you do this on Facebook as we aren't often notified about tags, and tag us in Instagram @TheActiveJoe). Show us that your group is excited to have this as a goal race!!
5 Points if you have more than 5 shifts of volunteers who list they want their volunteer shift to go toward the club - TELL CREWS TO SIGN UP TO VOLUNTEER HERE!

Biggest crews will be chosen on October 15.

Pacers

All pacers must check-in at the headquarters by the finish line before pacing to get a pacer bib. They need to go online HERE and sign the event waiver.
Participants can have a pacer starting mile 52.5 (after 5 loops) for 100K and 100 milers.
Participants age 60 and over in the 100K or 100 miler may have a pacer from the start of the race to the finish with permission ahead of time by the Race Director. Email us to get approved.
Participants age 70 and older in ALL distances may have a pacer from the start of the race to the finish with permission ahead of time by the Race Director. Email us to get approved.
Participants can pick up or change pacers only at the Cedar Brake aid station.
Participants can only be paced by one person at a time.
Pacers must stay with their runners except in case of emergency when seeking assistance.
No pacers are allowed in the 50K, 25K, or 5 mile races.
No muling allowed. This means that a pacer may not carry or deliver anything to their runner unless within 100 yards of an aid station. This includes food and water. Muling may be lead to disqualification.
Pacers may eat and drink from each aid station just like the participants, but not until shortly before they start pacing. You don't get to nosh all Saturday when you won't start pacing until Sunday 2 am, for example.
Failure by any pacer to follow the rules set out here may result in disqualification of their runner.

Cutoffs

50K, 25K, and 5 Mile Participating SATURDAY: Because of the longer distances in the race, there should be no worries from 5 mile, 25K, and 50K participants who are participating on Saturday about finishing cutoffs.

50K, 25K, and 5 Mile Participating SUNDAY: For those participating on Sunday, lots and lots of time for 5 milers to hike the race. For 25K and 50K participants, you will want to see the chart below for cutoffs for your last loop. You'll note that the speed you have to maintain for cutoffs is super hiker friendly for 25K, but it is much tighter for the 50K because of the overall end of the race weekend. If you can not meet those cutoffs, we suggest you come participate in the 50K on Saturday.

100K and 100 Milers: See the chart below for last loop cutoffs (last loop for 100K is the 10.5-mile loop and for the 100 mile is the 5-mile loop) and make sure your crews know these cutoffs too.

There will be no FINAL cutoff time (within reasonable limits - read on). There are incremental cutoffs ONLY. You must make each of these cutoffs in order to continue in the race.

These cutoffs represent the time you must be OUT of the aid station by. If a participant chooses to leave an aid station and return to the race course after the time cutoff or after being told by aid station volunteers that they are being pulled from the race, the participant is instantly disqualified and may be banned from future races.

If you leave an aid station before the cutoff but then backtrack and return to that same aid station after the cutoff, you will be pulled from the race.

The finish line will be stripped to bare bones at 2:00 pm but if you can make the final cutoff, we will wait for you at the finish, however long you take to make the final 2.5 mile journey, within reasonable limits (up to 3 hours for that final stretch).

Medical

Each runner is responsible for their own actions. You need to be prepared both physically and mentally for all of the various stresses of the race. Our hope is to not have to call 911 for any of you. But in the event we have to in a medical emergency, medical expenses incurred are the responsibility of the participants receiving medical attention. Some parts of this trail are very remote to road access, and there may be a substantial amount of time that passes before medical personnel can arrive to provide aid.

Runners must understand all risks associated with undertaking this event. These physical and mental stresses include, but are not limited to, dehydration, hyponatremia, hypothermia, heat exhaustion, renal failure, seizures, hypoglycemia, disorientation, falls resulting in physical injury, complete physical and mental exhaustion, etc. Every participant is expected to monitor his or herself continually with an understanding of their own personal limitations. YOU, the individual participant, are absolutely responsible for your well being during and after the race.