RULES
TRANSPORTUGAL 2014
1 - DEFINITION
The TRANSPORTUGAL 2014 is an endurance race that is open to all participants older than 18 years of age. It is a multi-stage in line race that crosses Portugal from North to South.
The participants race individually on a compulsory predefined ground track. They are not allowed to use or be helped in any way by motorized means.
All competitors race simultaneously against one another aiming to spend the minimum amount of time to reach the finishing line each day. The winner is the person who accumulates the shortest total time after adding any time penalty that may be attributed and deducted all eventual time allowances.
The TRANSPORTUGAL 2014 is composed of 9 stages totaling approximately 1117km. The race starts in the city of Bragança on the 9th May 2014 and finishes in Sagres in the Algarve on the 18th May 2014.
The Race is organized by CICLONATUR DESPORTOS LDA, whose address is: Rua Reinaldo Santos, 24 A/B, COLINAS DO CRUZEIRO, ODIVELAS, PORTUGAL. This company is entirely responsible for conceiving, designing, promoting and organizing the race.
2 – REGISTRATION
The total number of participants in the TRANSPORTUGAL 2014 is limited to 80 individuals. Registration opens online in the race webpage at 00:00h on the 1st October 2013 and closes on the 31st March 2014.
In order to become effective, a registration must be validated by the Organization who reserves the right to refuse a registration. In this case the Organizers will inform the individual of their decision by sending an email or a letter within a week. The refused entry, if already paid, will be reimbursed in full. This decision is irrevocable and The Organizers are not obliged to justify their decision.
The first 80 entries received will be promptly confirmed by Email with precise instructions for payment.
Any registration will only be considered valid after payment of at least 50% of the total entry fee has been received. This payment should be made within 10 days of registering. The entry fees are published in the race website in www.transportugal.com and include the services there also de-scribed and in accordance with the pack the athlete selects.
The entry form will be active in the race webpage until we receive 100 valid entries. The last 20 entries will automatically be added to a waiting list. Those in the waiting list will get an Email in-forming their relative position in the list.
As soon as a place becomes available the next athlete in the waiting list will be contacted to fill in that vacancy. He will then have 2 days to proceed with the payment.
All entries sent in before the end of 2013 must be paid in full by 31st December 2013. All entries received between 1st January and 31th March 2014 must be paid in full within 10 days from the moment we receive it.
After January 2014 all entries that show overdue balance will be suspended and the athlete noti-fied by email. In this case there won´t be any reimbursement.
TRANSPORT
The Organization will provide free of charge transportation for all registered racers, their bikes ei-ther in or out of a box or bag (in case the participant chooses to race with a bike) and their luggage. This exclusively comprehends the transport from Lisbon airport, bus or train station to a hotel in Lisbon, the transport from this hotel in Lisbon to Bragança and from Sagres to Lisbon Airport. All of the participant´s belongings for the race will compulsory be carried in a bag which the organ-izers will supply free of charge.
The Organization will not carry any other piece of luggage apart from the official racer’s bag men-tioned above.
CANCELATIONS
Cancellations must be made in writing up to 30 days before the start of the race.
If the slot opened as a result of a cancelation can be occupied by an athlete in the waiting list, the former will be reimbursed on all values paid less a commission of 10% of the entry fee.
However, if the slot opened as a result of a cancelation cannot be occupied by an athlete in the waiting list, the former will be reimbursed on all values paid less a commission of 50% of the entry fee.
All cancellations requests received after 8th April 2014 will not be entitled to any reimbursement either or not the opened slot will be occupied by an athlete in the waiting list.
Alternatively an athlete can choose to transfer to next year’s race the money already paid for his entry this year.
This will promptly entitle him to a granted place in next year’s race. However the athlete must send in his cancelation request in writing up to 30 days before the start of the race and in this case the organizers will retain a commission of 10% of the entry fee.
If the athlete fails to confirm his entry in next year’s race until the 10th day after the registration open date, he looses the right to participate in the race and neither he will be reimbursed, nor his balance will be transferred to future years.
3 – PARTICIPATION
In the TRANSPORTUGAL 2014 race, each competitor can progress over the race course by any means, as long as they neither use nor are helped by any motorized means.
In this race there aren’t age groups or categories. All racers competing individually will be listed in one only classification.
SELF-SUFFICIENCY
Whilst the competitors are racing, they are in complete self-sufficiency and any premeditated ex-ternal aid will be sanctioned by the suspension of the competitor from the race.
External aid is considered to be any pre-programmed action set up to provide any assistance, ei-ther directly or indirectly, in any physical form to the competitors whilst they are racing, wheei-ther or not they requested it.
Only members of the organization can provide assistance to competitors during the race, and only on request. In this case time penalties will be applied to the concerned competitors. Penalties will not be applied in the case of medical aid, security risks or any other reason not directly related to the competitor’s participation in this race.
Furthermore, competitors can ask any member of the organization for help with ground navigation or GPS functionalities and operation without being subject to any penalties. However the partici-pant asking for batteries for their GPS is not included in this exception and is liable to a 15 minutes penalty.
Besides this time penalty, any other aid requested to the Organization, be it mechanical support, water, food, spares, etc, penalizes the participant in 1 hour every time he requests it.
Whilst racing a participant can help or give assistance to another participant. These actions are not sanctioned and it is perfectly acceptable.
A participant whilst racing can freely seek for subsistence and get water from taps or springs, get food and beverages from local cafes or private houses, buy spares or any other product from shops along the way etc, This is perfectly ok and these actions are not sanctioned in any way. Obviously, any pre-programmed assistance set up by the organization which benefits all the racers in exactly the same way, will not be subject to penalties.
MOBILE PHONES
All participants are required to carry a cell phone that must be switched on and operational at all times whilst they are racing. The penalty for non-compliance with this rule is 1 hour for every time the fault is detected by the organization.
HELMETS
The use of a helmet specific to the activity the competitor is undertaking is mandatory whenever the competitor is moving, other than by foot. Any competitor who fails to comply with this rule will be suspended from the race.
RACE NUMBERS
All competitors must display their race number, facing forwards so as to be visible to anyone po-sitioned in their line of movement. Failing to comply with this rule is sanctioned with a penalty of 30 minutes for each time the fault is recorded by the organization. Furthermore, any competitor reaching a check point without their race number plate may not be controlled by the marshal and will therefore be penalized according to the specific penalties concerning Control Points.
Modifications to the design or graphics of the race number plates are not allowed. These numbers plates have designated spaces for the official race sponsors and these spaces cannot be tam-pered with in any way or form. Failing to comply with this rule is sanctioned by a monetary fine of minimum 500€ and maximum 5000€.
Any exhibition of graphics anywhere on the athlete or equipment that are considered obscene will be sanctioned by the offending competitor’s suspension from the race.
There are no categories or classes of racers and all athletes are competing in a single category.
4 – HANDICAPS
In order to provide an equal opportunity to all participants in the race, regardless of age or gender, we have introduced a system of allowances that grants discounts in time. These are showed as percentages of the nominal stage time, as established by the organization.
These calculations give time intervals for each competitor and for each stage that are defined in the form of an Advance Start Time relative to the Official Start Time (the time at which all athletes with no handicap start).
The total racing time of a stage is calculated for all participants in the same manner, that is, from the Official Start Time until the time the participant crosses the finishing line.
Athletes that are attributed these “handicaps” (sex and/or age): All female participants = 14%.
All participants over the age of 40, according to the following table: =>41 =<45 - 2% =>46 =<50 - 5% =>51 =<55 - 9% =>56 =<60 - 14% =>61 =<65 - 19% =>66 =<69 - 24% =>70 - 30%
These handicaps are cumulative when each racers allowance is calculated.
5 - THE ROUTE
The route of the TRANSPORTUGAL 2014 crosses Portugal from north to south almost always fol-lowing the border with Spain. Arround 75% of the course is off-road on forest trails, single tracks and double tracks.
The route uses normal paved roads, crosses towns and villages and occasionally uses trails in pri-vate land. None of the roads or trails will be closed to other users and the competitors must take that in consideration. This means that the racers may encounter vehicles, animals and people cir-culating in either direction on the race course.
This presents an increased security risk for the racers not only due to lack of visibility, but also because of the speed of the vehicles travelling on those roads. In order to promote the racers’ security in these situations, all participants are requested to stop at the crossing for at least 5 seconds. These crossings are either signaled by the Organization with a STOP sign placed a few meters before de crossing or have already a STOP road sign in place. These route points, consid-ered very dangerous, are also identified as special waypoints in the racers’ GPSs. By checking the racer’s GPS log at the end of each stage, the Organization will have the opportunity to scrutinize the compliance with this rule. Those that fail to comply will be penalized 30 minutes each time the fault occurs. A racer who fails to comply with this rule more than 3 times during the race will be suspended from the race.
On some of the trails there will be fence gates that will have to be opened and closed in order to progress on the race route. All competitors are obliged to close every gate that either they or any other participant opened. Failing to comply with this rule is sanctioned with suspension from the race.
It is mandatory to follow the race track with a high degree of precision. Penalties will be applied to those athletes shortcutting or bypassing any part of the race track. The race track is hereby de-fined as a 100 meter wide corridor in which the track is the middle line. Each fault will be penalized by 30 minutes for every kilometer missed out of the race track. In these calculations fractions of a kilometer will be considered as full kilometers.
A competitor can always divert from the race track for any reason or purpose without being penal-ized, as long as he or she joins the race track at the same point at which they originally left it. The race track will not be marked or indicated. Before the Race start the organization will upload all participants’ GPSs with a map containing the full race track as a main road called TP. This will be the competitor’s only means of ground navigation in order to follow the race track.
The competitors are fully responsible for the good operation and functionality of their GPS receiv-ers and for the integrity of the data stored in them.
Unless otherwise indicated, within villages competitors are not required to follow the virtual race track (as it appears on their screen). However, the Organization recommends this route as it is the ideal line through the village.
There may be cases where the race track road on the GPSs screen is not continuous. In such a case all the options a competitor may take to join the two loose line segments will be considered valid. Furthermore, the race track line may occasionally show some discrepancies in relation to the trail on the ground, it may not be perfectly coincident. In these cases the competitors should follow the trail on the ground so long as it fits inside the 100 meter wide corridor rule, as mentioned above. Except in specific cases which will you will be forewarned about by the organization, it is always supposed to circulate on marked trails, forest roads, gravel roads or paved roads.
6 - THE START
Every stage start time for every competitor with a time allowance will be made according to the start time schedule issued specifically for that stage, distributed by the organization the day be-fore.
The Official Start Time of every stage (the start time of all competitors without time allowances) is the one that appears in the official race program.
The Start Control Point (CHP) closes 15 minutes after the Official Start Time. Any competitors that start the stage after the Official Start Time will not be penalized as long as they do it before the closure of the CHP.
Any competitor who crosses the start line after the closure of the CHP will not be considered as racing, therefore they will not be timed for that stage.
The race official time is the GPS time, and the Time Zone is Western Europe (London, Lisbon).
7 - CHECK POINTS (CPs)
The Organization will set up Check Points along the length of the route. The competitors may not be informed where all these CPs are, which are there exclusively for security reasons, to ascertain that the competitors are following the race track. If any competitor fails to be checked at any of the CPs, they will receive a time penalty of 60 minutes.
The CPs may or may not be manned by someone from the organization. When a staff member is present they will register each competitor’s passage by recording race number and time of pas-sage.
The exact location of the Official CPs will be announced to the competitors in the stage briefing. These CPs are also marked on the race map downloaded to the competitors’ GPS.
All CPs will close at a predetermined time.
Except for the last two CPs, the competitor who reaches one of the first CPs after it’s closure time can continue racing but his passage on that point will not be considered, which in this case results in a penalty of 60 minutes.
All competitors who reach any of the last 2 CP of a stage after its closing time are obliged to stop and will either be transported to the Finishing line by the Organization or receive instructions on how to safely get there.
Racers will be informed of each stage’s last two CPs closing times the day before.
8 - THE FINISH
The location of the Finish Control Point (CHC) will be announced to the competitors in the stage briefing and is also marked on the race map downloaded to the competitors’ GPS receivers. A com-petitor finishes their stage the moment he crosses the finishing line, which is either a physical line on the ground and/or a sign or overhead banner bearing the word “META”.
The Finish Control Point (CHC) closing time, will be calculated multiplying the appointed best time of the stage by 1.75.
If the first racer across the Finish line spends more time in that stage than the appointed best time, then the closure time of the CHC of that stage will adjusted accordingly, again applying the same 1.75 multiplying factor. Any competitor finishing after this will not be qualified for that stage.
If a competitor is not qualified in any given stage, he will be assigned the maximum time allowed for that stage. In the General Classification, he will come after all those without disqualifications and will be positioned according to number of km done amongst those with the same number of qualified stages.
All racers crossing the finishing line in each stage will be requested to hand their GPS receivers to the designated staff member immediately after crossing the finishing line. Their stage track log will be screened to check whether or not there are any faults to be accounted for.
In the TransPortugal the GPS receiver is a key piece in the racer´s participation in the race and he has to carry it switched on and logging his motion at all times whilst racing.
If a competitor refuses or cannot hand over his or her GPS receiver to the organization at the CHC immediately after crossing the finishing line, his or her stage will not be validated and will be as-signed with the maximum time allowed for that stage.
Close to the finishing line on each stage the organization will set up a tent where they will provide competitors with beverages, fresh fruit and snacks. This service is included in the race package.
9 – TIMED SECTIONS
In order to increase the competitiveness of the race, time sections in some of the stages will be set up if necessary. An in-stage classification for the fastest 10 riders will be established.
These sections will be known by all the riders before the start of every stage. The sections will be selectively chosen to privilege all riders different riding skills.
The first 10 riders will then be granted time allowances to be deducted from their general clas-sification total time, according to the following table:
1st place – 5’ 2nd place – 3’ 3rd place – 2’ 4th place – 90’’ 5th place – 1’ 6th place – 50’’ 7th place – 40’’ 8th place – 30’’ 9th place – 20’’ 10th place – 10’’
These in-stage classifications will take in account the riders handicaps. These time allowances will not affect the Stage Classification and will only be reflected in the General Classification.
10 – TRACKERS
In order to further promote competitors’ security during the race, the Organization will require that all racers carry a tracker on them to remotely monitor their geo-position on the ground. This small device will have to be carried by the assigned racers where the organizers decide it should be carried so as to make sure it operates properly.
The racers are responsible for the safekeeping and integrity of these devices while they carry them.
In case this device gets lost or damaged the racer in question is requested to pay for its repair or replacement. The total cost may ascend to 180 euros in the worst scenario.
The racer who refuses to carry the tracker he was assigned to take, will not be allowed to take part in that stage and therefore his participation that day, will not be validated.
11 - WITHDRAWALS FROM THE RACE
If any competitor decides to withdraw from the race for whatever reason, they must immediately inform the organization. This can be done at any Check Point or by phone directly to the race coor-dination office. A special card with important phone numbers will be handed out to all competitors before the start of the race. If a competitor fails to inform the organization in case of their with-drawal, they will be responsible for the expenses incurred by the organization due to unnecessary search and rescue operations that will be set up. These costs will have to be supported by the competitor who failed to inform the organization of his or her withdrawal.
From the moment of withdrawal, if the participant decides to leave the race location, they will be responsible for all the costs related to that decision (lodging, meals and transportation).
Staying with the race caravan after withdrawal may also incur extra costs for transportation that will have to be charged to that individual. This issue would have to be dealt with case by case.
12 - TECHNICAL SUPPORT
At the end of each stage the organization provide technical support to participants bicycles if re-quired.
There will be a special Service Package called “BIKE DLUX PACK” that a competitor may sign in for when registering in the race which reliefs the racer from all the work involved with the bike maintenance. This pack that can be contracted together with the entry includes a daily bike wash-ing, drying and lubrication and all labor costs resulting from all the eventually repairs needed. The racer will hand over his or her bike at the end of each stage and the Organization will take care of it till the next morning.
Any repair work required by the riders who have not contracted the Technical Service Package mentioned above will be charged at an hourly rate of 25 euros + VAT.
Regarding the time allocation of the Race Mechanical Department those who signed this “BIKE DLUX PACK” in advance, will have priority over those that have not.
In all cases parts and accessories must be paid for by the participant.
13 - MASSAGES
The Organization will daily set up a massage service. However, there will a limited number of mas-sages possible every day.
In order to overcome this limitation, it will be possible to sign in for a massage pack we call “MAS-SAGE PACK” at the moment of registration for the race. This will guaranty the racer a daily mas-sage or a total of 8 sessions during the race.
Booking for massages outside this pack will always be subject to availability and cost 25 euros + VAT each.
Each massage section will last at least 25 minutes.
14 – LODGINGS
The lodgings are daily contracted by the Organization in hotels. The basic pack race entry default is a shared twin bedded room.
The rooms assortment and racers allocation by hotel room is primarily done by the Organizers who will do their best to respond to specific requests for joining friends or relatives. These requests must be made at the same time the entries are sent in.
15 – COMPULSORY DISQUALIFICATION
The race director has the power to disqualify or not allow any participant to start racing if, in the director’s judgment, they configure anyone of the following cases:
* Health related concerns;
*Abusive or premeditated violation of the race rules; * Unsportsmanlike conduct;
* Suspected ingestion of alcohol or signs of hallucinogenic drugs; * Disrespect of the local laws, religions or costumes;
* Disrespect for the environment (energy bars wrappers thrown out on the trails are included) * Disrespect of traffic rules.
16 – CLASSIFICATIONS
The TRANSPORTUGAL 2014 will be won by the racer who accumulates the minimum total time at the end of the 9 stages in Sagres after all added penalties, if applicable, have been accounted for and all time allowances deducted.
There will be one single classification and this will show every participant originally in the race regardless of whether they pulled out during the race or whether they were suspended.
The classification will be sorted first by the number of completed stages and then by total time. Those racers not classified in all stage will be sorted primarily by the number of stages, then by number of valid raced kms and finally by the relative time taken.
The organization will produce 2 sets of classifications each day, one showing the results of that day’s stage and the other showing the General Classification after that stage. These classifica-tions will also show penalties and time differences between competitors. For the classificaclassifica-tions racer’s times will be measured in the units of hours, minutes and seconds.
Claims and complaints will have to be presented in writing and up to 60 minutes after the clas-sifications have been issued. These claims will then be discussed by a jury composed of the race director, 2 members of the organization and 2 racers unanimously chosen to represent all racers. This jury will also have powers to order changes to the present race rules whenever these prove to be inappropriate or do not safeguard the security of the racers, thus promoting the racers’ in-tegrity. This jury can also recommend changes to these race rules in order to ensure that all racers
receive equal opportunities in their participation in the race.
17 – PRIZES
There will be prizes for the first 5 places in the General Classification. The main prizes will be:
1st prize – 2200 euros 2nd prize – 850 euros 3rd prize – 400 euros 4th prize – 200 euros 5th prize – 100 euros
These monetary prizes will only be distributed if there are more than 40 participants at the Start of the race.
All the other Race finishers will receive a certificate showing their classification and total race time.
All competitors will receive: - A race pack
- The GPS tracks for all stages.
- At least one TRANSPORTUGAL T-shirt. - 1 Race bag
All Competitors who finish the race with all stages validated will further receive a “TransPortugal Finisher” racing jersey.
18 – OTHER MATTERS
The jury will also decide, if necessary, on all issues that are not addressed by the present document or on all misunderstandings that this document may create. Furthermore, the jury is empowered to decide upon the application of penalties related to issues that are not properly covered by this document.
These Race Rules may be altered without previous warning if omissions, errors or text leading to misinterpretations are posteriorly found.
