NICA Events Hazardous Weather & Refund Policies
NICA Event Weather Guidelines
Unlike many other youth sports, mountain biking is a highly weather dependent activity. NICA must evaluate many factors regarding the impact of moisture, temperature and other environmental conditions on the safety of participants, spectators, staff and volunteers along with the long-term impact on the trail systems and venue. Any decisions regarding cancelling, postponing, or altering event start times, lap lengths, number of laps, etc. will be made jointly by the event director, the land manager, and the chief referee. Often, this decision cannot be made in advance of the event due to the unpredictable nature of wet or stormy weather, or acts of nature such as lightning, bush fires, etc. If conditions are deemed un-rideable and/or dangerous NICA reserves the right to implement any of the following options at their discretion:
- Adjust the schedule of activities over the course of the same weekend
- Delay the start of an activity from the published times
- Alter and/or shorten courses routes, lap lengths or lap counts
- Cancel all event activities
- Request all participants evacuate the venue
- Immediately suspend all activities when lighting is detected within 15 kilometers of the venue.
- An activity may continue once NICA officials have conferred and determined that it is safe to resume.
- For races stopped due to the lighting, NICA may implement the following restart protocols
- Depending on schedule and number of laps completed, the race may be declared over with results based on finishing position at the time of the race suspension
- If time permits, racers will be able to resume laps beginning from the lap line. Every attempt will be made to restart riders in the order they were in prior to the race suspension
In the event weather conditions deteriorate once an activity has begun and officials deem it unsafe to continue, a NICA official will be stationed on course advising riders of any changes and all forms of communications will be used to broadcast announcements with updated information to other event attendees.
Refunds/Transfers for Cancelled NICA Events
NICA strives to put on world class events and provide all of our community members with the best experiences possible. To achieve this, we make a tremendous financial investment to cover insurance, training, and event planning. Most event expenses are incurred well in advance of the scheduled event date and are non-refundable to NICA in the event of a cancellation. In order to maintain the financial sustainability of NICA, it is necessary we implement the following policies related to refunds, transfers and event rescheduling.
- NICA will not refund fees due to inclement weather, acts of nature or air quality conditions that necessitate the cancellation of an event
- NICA does not allow registration transfers to subsequent events in the event of a cancellation
- In the event of a cancellation, NICA will make every effort to reschedule the event to another weekend, however due to the complexity of hosting large events and venue/staff availability it is unlikely that a cancelled event will be rescheduled.
Participant Initiated Refund Requests
Fees paid to participate in NICA are generally non-refundable. Exceptions may be made for extenuating circumstances such as a season ending injury, relocating out of the area, etc. Requests for a refund need to be made to the NICA director and will be subject to the following limitations regardless of any extenuating circumstances:
- NICA Membership Fee – Limited to 50% if cancelled more than 7 days in advance of the first regional event. Any cancellation request less than 7 days in advance of the first regional event is non-refundable.
- Event Registration Fee – Full refunds or fee transfers to a subsequent event, less a $10 processing fee per event, will be available if requested by the participant more than 7 days in advance of the event. Any cancellations less than 7 days in advance forfeit 100% of their Event Registration Fee(s).