Registration opens on Monday, November 24th at 8:00AM MDT! Over the next five days we will go over the “Top 5 Things to Know” before registering for the Great Smoky Mountains Half. Each day, along with the post, we will be holding a giveaway over on our Facebook page. One FREE ENTRY every day until registration opens! The first thing we want you to be aware of is the registration nitty gritty, meaning the policies and details of registration.
There are four things we really want you to know about before and after you register for our race. They are our prices and deadlines, our refund policies, our excellent military policy, and our team registration policy.
[nzs_heading heading=”5″] Prices and Deadlines [/nzs_heading]
We will open registration at early bird pricing: $85. This will go until February 8Â when the price will jump to the regular price of $100. The price will jump a final time to the late price of $120. You can get a price time-table here.
We will be offering the $10 discount for members of teams with 6 or more people, however team members will get the discount once their team has at least 6 members.
[nzs_heading heading=”5″] Refund Policies [/nzs_heading]
If you register for the 2015 Great Smoky Mountains Half Marathon, but then find you are unable to make the race, you have several options. Until June 14, anyone registered for the race can get a full refund of their registration fees if they have to drop out of the race. After that, we will only be offering 50% refunds until September 11. No refunds will be given after that time.
You can also (1)defer your registration to a different Vacation Races race, or (2)transfer your registration to another runner. Requests for refunds, deferments, and transfers can be submitted online. All forms and refund policy information can be found here.
[nzs_heading heading=”5″] Military Policy [/nzs_heading]
We have a blanket price for any military personnel for any of our races: $65. We also provide a full refund to any active duty service-member who registers and subsequently receives orders that prevent them from attending the race. We will also give you a free entry into any one of our races once you return from service. You can read the full policy here. Thank you for serving!
[nzs_heading heading=”5″] Teams [/nzs_heading]
We do offer team registration. There are no relays, but there is a team prize to compete for. Runners on a team of 6 or more will each receive a $10 discount and the team will be automatically entered in the team category. You can get instructions on how to register as a team, as well as info on team scoring here.
[nzs_heading heading=”5″] REGISTRATION FORMÂ [/nzs_heading]
Our registration form is slightly different this year so take a look below and see if you have any questions before actually going to register. Any field marked with a “*” is a required field. The registration form is broken down into 5 simple pages:
1) Runner information and type of registration: You will input basic information about yourself and also indicate how you would like to register (individual, team, military, etc.). If you select team, you will have the option to select or create your team.
2) On the second page you will need to indicate what type of cup-free hydration system you would like to use during the race. As we’ve mentioned before, our races are cup-free. This means that we will have plenty of aid stations and water on the course, but no cups.
You have several options. You can either select to
1. Have us provide you with a Hydrapouch when you pickup your bib (FREE)
2. Have us ship you your Hydrapouch before the race so you can train with it ($5)
3. Purchase an UltraSpire Race handheld hydration bottle at a special discounted price of 50% OFF ($10)
4. Purchase an UltraSpire Pocket handheld hydration bottle at a special discounted price of 50% OFF ($15)
5. Bring your own.
You will then be able to indicate when you would like to pickup your bib (at the race expo or the morning of the race). We are also offering to mail packets (race shirt, bib, hydration system, etc.) to runners for $15.
3) On the third page you will have the option of purchasing a 2015 Great Smoky Mountains Half training shirt. The first 250 runners to register will receive this training shirt for FREE.
This option will be available until the first 250 are gone. You will need to select this option in order to receive a free shirt. Once the free shirts are gone, the “FREE training shirt” option will be grayed out and you will not be able to select it, indicating they are unavailable. You will still have the option at that point to buy a training shirt for just $15.
You are not guaranteed a free shirt until you have selected the FREE Training Shirt option and proceeded to the next page.
This is different from a race shirt, which is included in your registration and for which you will also indicate what size you want on this page.
4) On this page you will need to provide us with contact information to ship you necessary items or to contact you with necessary race information. We will send out important updates regarding the race, so please use an email address you check often.
5) On the final page you will checkout and complete your registration. We don’t offer many discounts, but if you have a coupon code this will be the page to enter that code and receive your discount. A running total will be displayed at the bottom of the page.
**These screen shots are taken from our Zion Half registration page, so some of the titles are incorrect and details might be slightly different, but the general flow and idea are consistent with the Great Smoky Mountains Half registration page.