Spartan Race National Championship at Summit Aug 26-27,2017

[RememberSchiff 3664]

(Charleston’s Yeager Airport spokesman Mike) "Plante announced that the nationally televised Spartan Race National Championship will be held at the Bechtel Summit Scouting Reserve near Mount Hope next August, bringing hundreds of obstacle-overcoming endurance runners and their families to the area, many of them via Yeager Airport. Yeager staffers will be working with the New River Gorge Boy Scouts complex to provide ground transportation from the airport to the competition site."

 

http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news-business/20161026/study-says-yeager-pumping-175-million-into-regional-economy

 

Could be exciting PR and revenue for BSA and Bechtel Summit. Spartan races are obstacle/endurance races for individuals or teams. "Commit to Fit" is their slogan.Obstacle racing seems to be a growing business, besides Spartan Race there is Tough Mudder, Warrior Dash,...I wonder if any Scout teams will enter.

 

https://www.spartan.com/en

 

Leave no trace. I hope the Spartans remember to remove their barb wire after race.

Edited April 5, 2017 by RememberSchiff
date correction

[RememberSchiff 3664]

Update:

 

Aug 26-27 at Summit. Event information and registration at link below:

 

https://www.spartan.com/en/race/detail/2589/overview?clickid=wP30Y6X6l0WMTGmWvLxvgyIXUkkT84wJTUEVz40&c3nid=159021&c3ch=Affiliate-IR

 

Sierra Nevada brewery is a sponsor. If alcohol is served at Summit during Spartan, IMO the current GSS would need to be amended first.

 

It is the policy of the Boy Scouts of America that the use of alcoholic beverages and controlled substances is not permitted at encampments or activities on property owned and/or operated by the Boy Scouts of America, or at any activity involving participation of youth members.

Edited April 5, 2017 by RememberSchiff
Sierra Nevada brewery

[SSScout 1615]

SO this will be not too soon after the Nat Jam?  I wonder what will be left standing for the Spartan race to use.

 And the Spartan ("Remember the Spartans")  website notes "Free Beer to the Finishers"?  I agree with Remember Schiff, what must happen with our concern about alcohol use on BSA property.  Not to mention when the World Jamboree comes along.... Perhaps the finish is in Glen Jean...  Seems there will be new artifacts for our Scouts to find along the trails.....

 

  And what happened to Mount Hope?  That's a nice little town,  Summit has a new post office?  

 

There goes the neighborhood.

[NJCubScouter 1389]

And the Spartan ("Remember the Spartans")  website notes "Free Beer to the Finishers"?  I agree with Remember Schiff, what must happen with our concern about alcohol use on BSA property.

Well, if you take things hyper-literally, "Free Beer to the Finishers" means you GET the beer. It says nothing about being able to actually "use" it on the premises, i.e. BSA property.

 

I am kidding. Being able to drink it where you get it is certainly implied. Although... if I go into a liquor store in my town and buy a six-pack, then take it out in the parking lot, sit down on the curb and pop one open, I am violating my town's "no open container" ordinance. (Which is sporadically enforced, if ever, but it is on the books.)

 

My guess, and it's only a guess, is that when the BSA rents out a piece of its property to an outside organization for an event such as this, it enters into a contract with the event promoter that specifies what can and cannot happen on the BSA's property during the event, and I also suspect that the BSA would take the position that this contract is what the promoter has to abide by, not the Guide to Safe Scouting. It's just a guess.

Edited December 16, 2016 by NJCubScouter

[mashmaster 783]

From being at Spartan races in the past.  It is certainly not a scouting event.   The drinking, language, and crowd would not fit with scouts.

[NJCubScouter 1389]

From being at Spartan races in the past.  It is certainly not a scouting event.   The drinking, language, and crowd would not fit with scouts.

I suspect the BSA figures that if they are renting the facility to an organization for an event, the organization can do or allow anything it wants, as long as the property is left in at least as good a condition as the group found it in, and does not do or allow anything illegal. (It may take 20 or more separately numbered paragraphs to express those two concepts in sufficient legal detail.)

[RememberSchiff 3664]

So change

It is the policy of the Boy Scouts of America that the use of alcoholic beverages and controlled substances is not permitted at encampments or activities on property owned and/or operated by the Boy Scouts of America, or at any activity involving participation of youth members.

 

to

 

It is the policy of the Boy Scouts of America that the use of alcoholic beverages and controlled substances is not permitted at any activity involving participation of youth members.

 

The BSA should follow its own policy.

[NJCubScouter 1389]

The BSA should follow its own policy.

Good luck with that.

[NJCubScouter 1389]

...encampments or activities on property owned and/or operated by the Boy Scouts of America...

I just noticed a different issue. Shouldn't that say "the Boy Scouts of America or any of its councils?" Or something like that? As far as I know, the property owned and operated by the BSA (National) consists of four high adventure bases (including the Summit) and the National HQ in Texas. Right?  And yet I can't imagine that National intends that drinking be happening on council properties either.

Edited December 16, 2016 by NJCubScouter

[Stosh 3452]

A landlord can enforce only what is in the lease/rental agreement.  If they don't mention alcohol, then it's fair game.  We might be talking big bucks here, that might be a game changer.

[RememberSchiff 3664]

I just noticed a different issue. Shouldn't that say "the Boy Scouts of America or any of its councils?" Or something like that? As far as I know, the property owned and operated by the BSA (National) consists of four high adventure bases (including the Summit) and the National HQ in Texas. Right?  And yet I can't imagine that National intends that drinking be happening on council properties either.

Good catch.

[RememberSchiff 3664]

Update:

 

Thousands of athletes from across the country will ...participate in the 2017 U.S. Championship Series for the Spartan Race. The Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve is hosting the event Aug. 26-27. It will be televised on NBC Sports.

...

 

Nearly 25,000 people are expected to come to West Virginia for the event which includes a series of challenges featuring obstacle courses of various sizes and difficulties.

 

http://wvmetronews.com/2017/01/18/2017-spartan-u-s-championship-race-to-be-held-in-beckley/

[John-in-KC 311]

Paging @@RichardB, @@RichardB...

 

So what is this about the Spartan Race at Bechtel serving alcohol on a BSA property?  How do you square that with dicta sent to Councils and to the Chartered Partners?

 

BTW, what about Spartan activities which are clearly, clearly beyond the bounds of safe as defined by G2SS, National Camp Standards, and ACA accreditation procedures?

Edited April 5, 2017 by John-in-KC

[gumbymaster 98]

I think you missed an earlier thread, I can't seem to find it at the moment, where the BSA carefully re-worded their alcohol policy in a way that would permit a private organization renting BSA property to follow their own rules on such matters - without actually saying so.

[RememberSchiff 3664]

So change

It is the policy of the Boy Scouts of America that the use of alcoholic beverages and controlled substances is not permitted at encampments or activities on property owned and/or operated by the Boy Scouts of America, or at any activity involving participation of youth members.

 

to

 

It is the policy of the Boy Scouts of America that the use of alcoholic beverages and controlled substances is not permitted at any activity involving participation of youth members.

 

The BSA should follow its own policy.

 

National has communicated the alcohol policy change about as well as they did the Tour Plan policy change. 

 

As John mentioned, many if not most, councils and camps believe the old BSA policy remains

 

As a facility (Philmont - RS) of the Boy Scouts of America, possession or consumption of alcoholic beverages is not permitted on the property.

http://www.philmonts...e/policies.aspx

 

Other council/camp websites still quote the old policy.

The Boy Scouts of America prohibits the use of alcoholic beverages and controlled substances at encampments or activities on property owned and/or operated by the Boy Scouts of America, or at any activity involving participation of youth members.

 

According to the current GSS,that restriction no longer exists rather just no alcohol use around scouts or at a scouting activity, as I (and others) suggested in a response on Dec 16 (see above).

 

I predict an adult work party at our local camp this fall will have no scouts, no official designation as a scout activity, and a keg!

 

Hmm, I wonder if Sierra Nevada will add "Served at Boy Scout Bechtel Summit Reserve" to their ads. Which beer will win a BSA concession contract?

Edited April 7, 2017 by RememberSchiff