New Year, New DEI Initiatives
Mission statement: USARA’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee believes our AR community is strongest when we welcome all participants no matter their gender, gender identity, race, age, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, political affiliation, or level of racing experience. Through our collaborative efforts, we will broaden access to the sport, cultivate a culture of adventurous inclusion, and further enrich the AR experience. #WeARtogether
In 2023, the USARA DEI Committee released a resource guide to support race directors in making their adventure races more diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible for all athletes. We originally sent the document to a small handful of race directors who we hoped would try out some of our suggestions and provide initial feedback. We’re now making the resource guide publicly available, so that the broader AR community can see the initiatives we’re spearheading for the future. You can find the complete resource guide here.
The resource guide includes:
Targeted marketing recommendations, including a list of outdoor/adventure-based organizations that may want to know about upcoming races
Tools for inclusive social media marketing
Language of best practices for engaging with racers and volunteers
Safety considerations to be implemented in pre-race information and at events
Methods to collect demographic information from race participants during registration
Race directors, here’s what you should know:
We would love to tailor our upcoming initiatives to focus on actions that are most useful for you. In order to do that, we’d greatly appreciate your feedback on what parts of the resource guide you’ve tried, what’s worked well, and any new resources you’d like to see in the future.
If you have suggestions or best practices that you’d like us to incorporate into future materials or practices that you’ve adopted that you’d like to share with other race directors, please let us know!
Racers, fans, spectators and activists, here’s what you should know:
The resource guide includes a link to a “living” Google spreadsheet that we plan to continue updating with additional information, resources, and contacts as we come across them. If you know of outdoor organizations, social media tools, or learning resources that would help advance our mission, we’d encourage you to add them to the spreadsheet or contact one of us.
If you are aware of an organization or event that does a great job of embracing DEI objectives, we’d like to hear from you! Similarly, if you have experienced harassment, discrimination, or have felt unsafe or unwelcome at an adventure race, we’d like to know about that, too. USARA is committed to sharing practices that make everyone feel welcomed and correcting instances of injustice and inequality.
If you’ve already signed up for an adventure race in 2024 (or are planning to), good luck with your preparation - we can’t wait to see you on the course! You may notice additional questions on registration forms this year regarding your race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, and accessibility needs. These questions should be optional, but we’d be grateful if you responded. We’re interested in determining which demographics are over- and underrepresented in the AR community so that we can prioritize future initiatives to create the biggest impact. If you have questions or concerns about this demographic data, we encourage you to read the details provided in the resource guide and contact one of us.
How you can get involved:
If you’re interested in joining the USARA DEI Committee, we’d love to have you! We’re always accepting new members - please contact one of us.
If you have feedback on the resource guide, you can reach out to one of us directly, or add your thoughts to the “user feedback” tab on the Google spreadsheet.
In solidarity,
Will Pfadenhauer (wpfadenhauer@umass.edu)
Abby Perkiss (aperkiss@gmail.com)
Karyn DuLaney (karynldulaney@gmail.com)
On behalf of the USARA DEI Committee
