Malak Series Virtual Relay Concept
We hope everybody is staying safe and well amidst the social distancing and stay at home orders prescribed as a result of COVID-19. At the Malak Series, we just had to postpone our March (and then April) Palmetto Relay fully until 2021. However, to salvage a little bit of fun, normalcy and the training all the runners put in for the race, we are having our first ever Virtual Relay for the Palmetto Relay Teams. Most locations are still allowing running and exercising outside so this is one of the few things people can still do.
This first version will be a great pilot program to see how this works and see if it is something we officially want to add as an offering for the Malak Series (maybe for each race or maybe one each in the Fall and Spring). Below are the general guidelines we will be following for the race, and then there is a link to the specific guidelines for the Virtual Palmetto Relay. Check them out and let us know what you think!
Teams will have a given set of time to have all their runners complete their legs. For the Palmetto Relay we decided on 8.5 days – the race officially starts on a Friday morning and finishes the following week on Saturday afternoon. This gives teams a lot of flexibility for their runners to be able to run their sets of legs. The individual leg distances for the Virtual Relay are provided by the Malak Series (in the upcoming Virtual Relay, they are based off the actual legs for the Palmetto Relay).
The constraints for each individual runner are more in line with the normal relay time-frames. For each individual runner, once you begin your first leg you must complete all your assigned legs in a 36-hour time frame for the 200-mile version and a 13-hour time frame for the 70-mile version. Teams and individuals do not need to run the legs in order (Leg #1 does not need to be run first, Leg #2 does not need to be run second, and so on).
For the Virtual Palmetto Relay, team members will not be able to run the race in true relay style or even together due to the social distancing in place right now. However, that is something teams could do in the future.
We will provide a log sheet for team captains to log their runner start and end times for each leg. These are due back to us on the Sunday after the race is finished. We will gather and post the results and have overall and category awards for the race.