Essentia Health Go Far Woman & COVID-19
December 10, 2020: We are so excited to announce that we will be having the 2021 Essentia Health Go Far Woman in 2021 on August 6th & 7th! After this last year, we have been through a lot ~ and we are very anxiously looking forward to a healthy and prosperous 2021! Registrations have opened up, and we have included the virtual option in all distances for those who would like to participate in remote locations. Your safety and health are the most important to us, so stay tuned for more updates as we move into 2021!
July 28, 2020: With the recent surge of positive COVID cases across the country and in particular North Dakota, the Essentia Health Go Far Woman 2020 ‘in person’ event will be canceled and all distances will be going virtual to ensure the safety of all participants, sponsors, volunteers and staff.
This decision was not taken lightly, and as of Monday morning, we were still on track to be hosting an ‘in person’ event. However, the most recent news of rising active cases and testing positivity rates over the last month has put North Dakota in the company of about 30 other states, that are deemed by recovering East Coast states to be "high risk" areas. For this reason, we feel that canceling the ‘in person’ event is the safest and most considerate thing for us to do.
We were very excited to give you an outstanding experience and are committed to making sure that you still have the best experience possible with this transition. So here’s what we are doing:
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All current participants will be transferred to the virtual option immediately – nothing for you to do! Your swag will be sent to you with 4 weeks of the race date. *If you can’t wait to receive it, we will also have a SAFE pickup option at the Urban Plains Park on Friday, August 7th from 12 noon until 8pm with plenty of social distancing, pre-packaged finish line food and water!
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Want to defer to next year? It’s very easy! Just follow the easy steps below:
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Log into Participation Self-Management HERE
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Select the DEFER REGISTRATION square on the bottom right
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Select the 2021 Essentia Health Go Far Woman – Individual or Team and the distance that you were registered for
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Confirm the Transfer – and you’re done!
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If you are unable to participate virtually and are not wanting to defer to next year, we will be issuing refunds of the registration fees. Please email me directly at sue@gofarwoman.com for more details.
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Hadn’t registered yet but still want to run virtually? You can! Registration is still open for ALL distances virtually! Just CLICK HERE
If you have any questions, or need further assistance, please reach out at sue@gofarwoman.com. *Please note that all changes need to be made by August 4th - the original cut off day for online registration.
On behalf of the Essentia Health Go Far Woman, we thank you for your continued support and understanding. We look forward to seeing you all in person in 2021!
July 13, 2020: In continued effort to ensure the safety of all participants, vendors and spectators we are implementing the following guides:
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Expo - we will have limited number of booth to ensure that we can maintain social distancing between vendors and participants
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Packet Pickup - each line will have plexiglass in front of the volunteer and signs will be posted on the floor to encourage social distancing - all volunteers will be wearing masks
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Start - if the number of participants in a race requires more social distancing than we can achieve with the location of the start (we are starting outside the park area in Urban Plains Park on Friday night on a bike path, and outside the Scheels Arena on Saturday morning on the road) we will implement heat starts based on anticipated finish time.
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Aid stations - Water/Gatorade stations will have cups spread out onto tables so you can grab your own cup. All volunteers at Aid stations will wear gloves & masks and have hand sanitizer available.
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Finish Line Food - All of our finish line food will be individually packaged items. Volunteers will wear gloves & masks and have hand sanitizer available.
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Medals - where possible - medals will be kept in individual packages.
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North Dakota has gone to Low Risk - this means that the facility can be at 75% capacity - or up to 500 people. We are limiting the amount of participants to fall below this number, and encouraging participants to limit the number of support fans/family to decrease the amount of people
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Virtual options are available - if for any reason you would like to run the virtual option instead of participating during the actual event - you are able to transfer or register for that option easily! Just visit our VIRTUAL PAGE for more details!
At this point we are unable to issue any refunds since we are so close to the race, we are in fact holding the event, and shirts, medals, and other preparation for the event has already been purchased. We will however, offer deferrals to the 2021 event or the virtual race option. (See above)
Emails will be sent to all participants prior to the race week and during the race week to ensure that all are aware of the precautions that we are taking. We are excited to have the 2020 Essentia Health Go Far Woman and as always, want to make sure that everyone is safe, has an enjoyable time, and feels great about their accomplishment!
June 1, 2020: North Dakota has moved to the Low Risk Phase - which is great for us! Large gatherings can be at 75% of capacity - or 500 people. We are continuing to plan for a great weekend of events! We will follow guidelines set forth by the state to ensure the safety of our participants, volunteers, staff and spectators.
May 11, 2020: The safety of our participants, volunteers, staff and spectators is extremely important - so we are taking additional measures to make the August 7th & 8th events the safest possible. Here are a few things that we are doing:
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Start - we will have corral starts for all races. Each race will be divided up into smaller start groups (heats) that will start a few minutes after each heat goes. These heat will be divided up by anticipated completion times.
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Aid stations - Water/Gatorade stations will have cups spread out onto tables so you can grab your own cup. All volunteers at Aid stations will wear gloves and have hand sanitizer available.
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Finish Line Food - All of our finish line food will be individually packaged items. Volunteers will wear gloves and have hand sanitizer available.
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Medals - where possible - medals will be kept in individual packages.
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Virtual options are available - if for any reason you would like to run the virtual option instead of participating during the actual event - you are able to transfer or register for that option easily! Just visit our VIRTUAL PAGE for more details!
May 4, 2020: We have added VIRTUAL options for all races - in case you would like to complete them on your own time or feel unsafe to participate in person. We will mail your swag to you when the event is done and you've completed your distance. Visit the VIRTUAL PAGE for more details!
May 1, 2020: The Essentia Health Go Far Woman has reopened registrations as of May 1st, 2020 in response to the ND Governor Burgum's order to reopen some businesses on May 1st. We are monitoring the situation closely and will continue to update if there are any changes to the race date. As of today, we are proceeding to plan the event weekend, taking into consideration any special precautions to ensure the safety of our participants, vendors, volunteers and staff.
Thank you for your patience and understanding!
April 2020: The Essentia Health Go Far Woman team is committed to ensuring that we are considering the safety and health of all of the participants, vendors, volunteers and staff during the 2020 Essentia Health Go Far Woman event. As of now we are still on track to host the event on August 7 & 8, 2020. We are encouraging all of our registered participants to follow the guidelines set forth in your home state, as well at the United States government guidelines. We are closely monitoring the ND Health Department and Center for Disease Control websites and are in communication with local authorities.
In order to best serve our participants from any potential future complications, we are suspending registration until May 1st. We will continue monitoring the situation and update you at that time.
We also encourage you to continue your training, keeping in mind social distancing and appropriate disinfecting techniques. Support each other in this time of uncertainty - we will get through this!
"Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm POSSIBLE'!" ~ Audrey Hepburn
