As we previously announced, April 15 is the day that we will make the decision about whether ARC will take place in May or we will have to postpone it.
We have asked all the teams to send us their feedback considering that we have teams from more than 20 countries and 4 continents and the situation with COVID and travel restrictions are different for each country.
As of today, 25 teams decided to transfer their starting fees to ARC 2022, 2 teams asked for a refund and we haven’t received any reply from 5 teams.
Only 17 teams said that they are planning to come but no one can guarantee it for sure (except maybe for teams from Croatia) because things change on the daily basis.
There are active lockdowns in several countries from which teams are coming from and they may be continued for a period way after May 15 so for some teams that were planning on coming, traveling to Croatia will not be possible.
We also had to assess the COVID situation in Croatia and try to make sure that we can give teams a proper race.
The number of people infected with the COVID virus is growing in Croatia, especially in the region where ARC 2021 is supposed to happen (the region is currently under lockdown for two weeks), but it is still under control. The bigger problem is that all the gatherings and events are forbidden at the moment. It could change until May but we cannot count on that.
There are also a lot of other factors that could affect the race (closing of hotels, travel restrictions from one region to another, plane cancelations…) even if some of the teams manage to come to Croatia.
There are 40 teams already registered for ARC 2021. On February 1 2021, we will re-open the registration and we will accept 10 new teams for ARC 2021. Many teams are on the waiting list, but some of them have been there for months and we do not know if they are still interested in participating in ARC 2021. That means that all the new teams interested in ARC 2021 participation will have to register.
The registration will open at 9:00 CET (Central European Time) on February 1 and close once we fill out all the spots.
Teams will have 72 hours to pay a deposit of € 200 to secure their spot and that amount is not refundable.
The full amount of the starting fee must be paid by March 15.
If the teams will not be able to participate in ARC 2021, they will have the possibility to transfer their starting fee to ARC 2022 or to sell their spot to a different team by April 15, but only if their cancellation is caused by COVID 19 (travel restrictions, health issues, illness or death of a close family member). ARC organization can help in connecting teams that wish to sell their spot with teams that want to buy a spot for ARC 2021 but will not be a part of the transaction.
Teams can also ask for a starting fee refund but it will be reduced by € 600 (€ 200 non refundable deposit and € 400 for additional costs). However, if they apply for ARC 2022, they will get € 400 discount on the full price. The final date to ask for a refund is April 15.
So considering all those factors we have to announce, with sadness in our hearts, that we are officially postponing the race to 2022.
We considered postponing it to a later date this year but we could not find a date that could work.
June is too close and there are already 3 ARWS races that month, July and August are too hot for a race in Croatia and all the resorts are hoping for a busy summer season so we cannot secure a host resort in that period.
In September we are a part of the organizing team of the biggest trail race in Croatia- 100 Miles Of Istria – and beginning of October is reserved for ARWC in Spain.
So the only logical conclusion is to postpone it to May 2022.
We do not know the exact date but it looks like it will be around the same time as it was supposed to be this year.
We know that this is not the decision that some of you were hoping for but we have to face the fact that there are too many variables involved and we are not willing to risk the quality of the race.
All your starting fees will be transferred to ARC 2022 and even if we increase the price for 2022 you will have no extra costs – your starting fee will stay the same.
We hope this year will be much better for all of us and that our lives will get back to normal soon.
