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Summer Short Track Shootout

Race Participant Safety

Below are a few guidelines to help keep participants safe during our incredibly fun short track races. If you have anyone questions, feel free to reach out to the event organizer, Neal Boyd.

Race Start
At the start of the race as your accelerating, it’s super important to always keep your head up, continue straight in your line of travel and make sure no participants are directly beside you before deviating from your line (moving right or left). It’s also very import to not overlap wheels with the participant in front of you, see the illustration below. When trying to pass at the start of the race, make sure to maintain distance between the person you are overtaking so you have time to react to the person if they make a sudden move towards you.

A diagram of a person holding a bar Description automatically generated

Passing/Overtaking a Participant
During the race, it’s up to the participant trying to overtake another participant to communicate and make a clean safe pass. Being aggressive and attempting to pass in areas where there’s nowhere safe to pass is not tolerated. With that being said, intentionally preventing (blocking) a faster participant from getting by you on the trail is not allowed as well. With the short track course, there’s plenty of places on the course to safely overtake another race participant. We understand your adrenaline is jacked through the roof and your heart rate has skyrocketed but the most important thing to remember is communication on the course. Call out your pass as you're approaching the participant and make sure it's safe to roll by. It's a simple, "I'm on your left" or "I'm on your right".


Race Finish
Last but not least, just like the start of the race, it’s crucial to “hold your line” at the finish of the race. If you happened to get lapped at the end of your race or you have faster participants approaching you at the finish line for a sprint finish, continue straight in your current line of travel and do NOT try to “get out of the way”. Just like on the trail, it’s up to the participant or participants approaching you at the finish line to safely make his or her away around you. You may have a tendency to move right or left to avoid the faster participants but that actually makes things much worse for all involved. Another important action item to note during race finishes, if you are in a sprint finish with one or more competitors at the end of the race, always keep your head up and do not deviate from your sprint lane to gain an advantage in the sprint. What's a sprint lane? A sprint lane is basically an imaginary lane that parallels the curvature of the road to the finish. Just like the race start, deviating from your sprint lane is very dangerous as participants are typically digging deep and at a high rate of speed as they approach the finish line. No one wants to end up on their back on the asphalt at the finish line.

Here is a great video of top level, tight mountain bike racing that illustrates safe passing during the race event and several amazing fast finish sprints.


Passing and sprinting!


Thank you for taking the time to read this important information. Having a fun and SAFE racing environment for all abilities is something we take very serious. As a results, we've had very few incidents over the years. Help us keep up the tradition!

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