Down East Sunrise Trail Relay
RACE WEEKEND INFO
Race Details
START Location & Times:
Start location— Washington Junction, 2 Railroad Siding Road on the Ellsworth / Hancock town line.
Start times— Team start times will be staggered based on anticipated pace information submitted at the time of registration. Race officials anticipate the various start times to range from as early as 3:30PM Friday until as late as 1AM Saturday.
Staggering start times allows all teams to finish within the same approximate 2-hour window on Saturday. (i.e., Slower teams will take longer to cover the distance, while faster teams will arrive at the finish line in fewer total hours.)
Start times will be emailed to Team Captains in July / no later than one week in advance of race weekend.
Race officials reserve the right to adjust start times by one hour if the weather forecast is predicting extreme heat. Teams will be notified accordingly. (Raise your hand if you ran the oven that was 2019!)
FINISH LOCATION & TIMES:
Finish location— Overlook Park & Sutherland Amphitheater, Water Street in Eastport.
Approximate finish times— Based on the pace information submitted at the time of registration by each runner, race officials anticipate teams finishing between about 10AM and about 12PM. However, some teams may finish before or after these times.
Team Pace Requirements:
Teams must be able to maintain an average pace of 12min/mile.
All team members must indicate their anticipated pace for their portion of the relay at the time of registration as accurately as possible. This information may be updated at a later date. It is the responsibility of the Team Captain to make sure that their team’s pace information is as accurate as possible.
Manipulated pace information could cause your team to miss out on the fun entirely or arrive way too early before the finish line hospitality area is set-up.
Teams that supply wildly inaccurate pace information in an attempt to manipulate their start and/or finish time may be held on the course, and/or face other time penalties.
Please trust our process :)
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Race Check In, Safety Briefing, and Gear Check
WHERE—
Washington Junction, 2 Railroad Siding Road on the Ellsworth / Hancock town line.Please plan to arrive before your check-in time so that you can park your vehicle, gather your required safety equipment and printed materials, and have a quick team meeting.
WHEN—
The group safety briefing & gear check will take place 30-minutes prior to your team’s start time.We will do one group briefing and gear check for all the teams starting at your designated time. We will do a roll call of all the teams that should be present and ask everyone to hold up their gear.
Please plan to arrive before your check-in time so that you can park your vehicle, gather your required safety equipment and printed materials, and have a quick team meeting.
Your team’s race materials will be issued after the safety briefing and gear check. (Don’t be late! There’s a time penalty for holding everyone else up!)
SAFETY GEAR REQUIREMENTS—
You are required to bring the following items and show them at race check-in in order to pick up your race materials and to participate. (Honestly, all runners should have this safety equipment.) If you do not have these items, your team will not be allowed to start the race.All team members must have a reflective vest, which must be worn between 7:00PM and 6:00AM if you are running or if you are outside of your support vehicle.
All team members must have a blinking safety light to be worn on their back when running between 7:00PM and 6:00AM.
All team members must have a working headlamp to be worn facing front when running between 7:00PM and 6:00AM.
Each team vehicle must have printed copies of the current Race Handbook.
Electronic versions may NOT be used in place of printed hard copies. Electronics can and do fail unexpectedly. (You might still want to download a personal copy of the Race Handbook for yourself to your preferred device, but you’ll need hard copies for each team vehicle.)
It is each runner’s responsibility to know the rules of competition and the safety guidelines outlined in the Race Handbook. Non-awareness is not an excuse.
FAQ: Can my teammates and I share safety gear? No. Team members must have their own safety gear. In the case of safety vests, these are required to be worn by anyone (participants, drives, crew) who is outside the team vehicle from 7PM to 6AM, including at race check in if occurring after 7PM. In the case of headlamps and blinking lights, if they are being shared and used for hours, the batteries will run out more quickly. The trail is very dark and the footing can be tricky with loose rocks. It is not a place someone would want to get caught without a headlamp.
FAQ: My hydration vest/pack has reflective piping, can this be considered a safety vest? No. This is a multi-use trail with many, many road crossings. It is imperative that you are VERY visible. Safety vests are required.
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Bib Numbers, Timing, and Relay batons
Bib Numbers
Bib numbers must be worn visibly on the FRONT. All team members must be wearing their bib numbers at the finish to get their medals.
Participant first name, team name, and emergency contact info* will be printed on their race numbers. (*Your bib number will be printed on July 1st using the data you supplied at the time of registration.)
Please keep your personal information submitted at the time of registration up to date by following the directions found on our FAQ page.
Timing
Overall results— Teams will be scored based on total accumulated time, from when their first runner crosses the start line, until their last runner crosses the finish line. Teams will NOT be scored in order of finish. (This means that the first team to cross the finish line may have a slower total elapsed time than a team that crosses the line after them.)
Race officials will be scoring the overall team finish times live from the finish line via Google Sheets: results.destrelay.com — note: the url will not be active until race weekend.
Individual leg times will be added to the Google Sheet after the event. (This is a tedious and labor-intensive process.)
Team timing sheet— Teams must self-time their individual legs to the nearest second. Teams that do not follow this rule will have a 59-second time penalty added to each offending leg time. We recommend that team captain’s use a stopwatch app on their smart phone to record each leg as a lap. Teams must promptly turn in completed timing sheets at the finish line to receive their medals. Hint: a blank timing sheet is located at the back of the Race Handbook.
Time penalties will be applied as follows:
Failure to self-time to the nearest second: 59-seconds per offending leg time.
Failure to provide a leg time: The leg’s slowest timed runner, plus 15-minutes.
Failure to provide a timing sheet: The slowest timed team, plus 20-minutes.
Legacy lead race timer— Eastern Maine race timer Ryan King (rk) was the official lead timer for every edition of the relay thru 2021. Although he was not able to attend the race in person in ‘21, he was actively overseeing the finish times and results remotely from home. Sadly, rk passed suddenly and unexpectedly a few hours after the final teams crossed the finish line in Eastport. In 2022 race organizers dedicated the event to rk and forever memorialized him as the Legacy Lead Race Timer of the DEST Relay.
Relay Batons
Each team will be issued an official relay baton. Your Leg 16 runner MUST be carrying the relay baton when crossing the finish line so that we can identify each finishing team for accurate timing — hold it up high like the Olympic Torch when you cross the finish line!
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Parking & Support Vehicles
Parking
Ellsworth— Parking is limited at Washington Junction to support vehicles that are checking in their teams.
If anyone on your team needs to leave a personal vehicle in Ellsworth there is ample overnight parking at Walmart, as well as 24-hour surveillance. (Located at 17 Myrick Street.)
Trail crossings / leg handoff exchanges— Do not obstruct traffic. Support vehicles will be driving are on public roadways. There is VERY limited parking at all leg handoff exchanges. Do not leave vehicles on the side of the road and expect them to be there when you return. Park only in designated areas.
Teams should limit the number of vehicles at each leg handoff exchange. (e.g., if your vehicle isn’t expecting and incoming runner, and you’re not dropping off an outgoing runner, you should not be hanging out at the crossing if it is congested.)
If one of your runners will be meeting you along the way they should leave their personal vehicle somewhere sensible and plan to be picked up and dropped off as needed. No vehicles should be left unattended at trail crossings/leg handoff exchanges. There is limited parking for team support vehicles with incoming/outgoing runners only.
Eastport— Public street parking is available in downtown Eastport. Additional parking can be found:
Behind the Post Office [1 Washington Street]
5 Sullivan Street [by Moose Island Marine]
Quoddy Bay Lobster [end of Sea Street]
Eastport Arts Center [36 Washington Street]
Port Authority [141 Water Street] Note: There is a small farmer’s market there 11am-1pm.
Support Vehicles
Teams are limited to two (2) support vehicles. Dashboard permits will be issued at check in.
No campers/RVs, limousines, buses, trailers, or oversized vehicles.
Please keep in mind that there is no on-trail course support. Once your runner leaves the comfort of your team vehicle, they are on their own. Any fluids, food, or other supplies your runner may require is their responsibility to carry.
ATV clubs will be monitoring some sections of trail, however, they will not be carrying water, fluids, etc.
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Volunteers
2024 volunteer reg coming soon! Click HERE to sign up with your email address to be notified when online volunteer reg opens.
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Leave More Than Footprints...
The official beneficiary of the DEST Relay is the Sunrise Trail Coalition, who created and maintain the trail that we’ve all come to love so dearly.
In addition to the Sunrise Trail Coalition, this event also supports the Dennysville ATV & Snowmobile Club, Silent Santa Fund, and other important downeast organizations.
We encourage all participants to leave more than footprints when they run with Crow Athletics. Please click HERE to make a donation.
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What’s Open?
We are working on a list of area business that will be open for race weekend. Check back soon as this list will be updated regularly!
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Are you a local business owner and planning to be open for early check-in on Friday, and/or Saturday morning for the race? Please complete the form below to submit your FREE business listing. Important! Businesses must be located in downeast Maine, neighboring the Sunrise Trail. Businesses must be submitted by July 1st to be listed.
Upcoming Crow Athletics Races
October 20, 2024: MDI Marathon, Half & Relay
21st running!
This is the premier event of Crow Athletics and showcases what running in Maine is all about. If you're not running, we hope you'll volunteer.
December 7, 2024: Millinocket Marathon & Half
9th running!
Maine's legendary free community road race! Don't Run Millinocket for what you get; Run Millinocket for what you give!
January 26, 2025: Robert Burns 10K
10th running!
Held in honor of Robert Burns, the most cherished and celebrated poet of Scotland. Featuring cash prizes and a competitive kilt division, this Westbrook based winter 10K is not to be missed.
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#DESTRELAY • run downeast
Crow Athletics is proud to host the Down East Sunrise Trail Relay, the award-winning Mount Desert Island Marathon, and the FREE Millinocket Marathon & Half.