For New England Spahtens
Manifesto (and introduction)- History (Where we came from)
- Community etiquette (How to play nice)
- Team resources (Finding stuff)
- Events and Reviews (Where and what and which races)
- Training (Where and how do we train)
- Social (Where and how do we meet)
- Team gear (What do we wear)
- Business Owners and Fundraising requests (How to not spam us)
- Contact (Who do I talk to)
Manifesto
At our heart, we are an obstacle course race (OCR) community, focussing on the New England OCR scene. Membership is free and open to any obstacle course race enthusiast of any athletic ability.
In late 2012 we laid out a manifesto that drives everything we do – you can read it here. It’s unchanged since day one.
https://www.newenglandspahtens.com/manifesto/
History
In 2012 there was a Rhode Island based Spartan Race street team, and a Mass based Spartan Race street team. They merged, with big ideas of maybe bringing 100 people to a Spartan Race!
In 2013, we brought 350 people over two days, and locked out our own wave. Our community group on Facebook is now counting membership in the thousands. We’ve helped New England OCRs get off the ground and consulted as industry experts for national OCR bodies. Read some more of our history here:
https://www.newenglandspahtens.com/teams-work/
In 2014, we launched the #racelocal Grand Prix – a program designed to encourage and promote the best of the New England OCR scene
In 2016, we incorporated, and became a 501c7 – a tax exempt social club and launched The NE Spahtens Show, a podcast to bring you news, reviews and opinions from the OCR space.
Community Etiquette
The points are stated very simply. Don’t over think them.
1) Be nice. You are allowed to disagree with someone in a debate – but name calling and causing offense has no place.
2) Be on topic. We are a New England based community. 99% of our active community sits in RI, CT, MA, NH, ME or VT.
3) BE ON TOPIC. We are an obstacle course racing community. We run a lot too. We do lots of physical activities and training, but our focus is always on obstacle course racing.
4) Spam is not permitted. Commercial posts are not permitted. Fundraising is not permitted. We’re a social club, we love OCR – we’re not here to be sold to, marketed at or raise funds for.
We have grown rapidly. As a result, the majority of our community members are new, so:
* If you have just joined, welcome. Introduce yourself before you ask for sponsorship or advertise your race. You have a lot of resources available, and things can be overwhelming at first – We hope you feel welcomed and grow with us.
* If you’ve been here a while, grow the quality of the community. Say hi to new people, and set the tone for what they can expect in NES. Make them feel welcome.
Every single person who wears our team logo, or participates in team events (team waves, social engagements etc) is representing the community. As such, we expect you represent the community in a kind and courteous manner at all times.
* Take out what you bring in.
* Ask before touching someone at an obstacle. Be mindful of kids with your language and behavior.
* Don’t be a bully or make personal attacks.
* Treat others how you expect your loved ones to be treated.
The basics that it takes to be a decent, kind human being.
Your actions on a course, or at a festival, or in other social media communities reflects on our community, and these should be (and almost always are) positive and good. As a result, damage to our reputation is not something we tolerate.
If the current board, by majority vote, believe you are acting in a manner that is damaging to our reputation, we will provide a warning that serves as your only warning. Future infractions of any kind will result in your removal from NES. You will receive notice of the warning in written form (FB Messenger or email).
If the board agrees by a majority that the incident is serious enough to skip the warning stage, we will immediately remove you from the community. Examples are, but not limited to: Drug or Alcohol abuse. Sexual or physical assaults. Bullying. You will receive notice of your removal in written form (FB Messenger or email).
In circumstances where an individual has received a warning, or the board has voted by majority to remove said individual – accounts with the team store will be canceled, removal from all private Facebook groups will occur, and annual memberships will be canceled without refund.
The New England Spahtens is overwhelmingly a positive experience for it’s members, new and old. We are a family friendly group, and actively encourage new comers to our sport – many of whom may already be intimidated by the scale or demands of their first obstacle course event.
Encourage and motivate those people, every chance you get!
Team Resources
We have several resources available. Our website has many more – from healthy recipes to equipment build instructions to athlete and community member interviews. Make liberal use of the search boxes on both our website and Facebook community before asking what could be a very common question!
Website – nespahtens.com
Facebook community – community.nespahtens.com
Facebook Page – facebook.com/nespahtens
Events page – koolaid.nespahtens.com
Training information – training.nespahtens.com
Gear store – store.nespahtens.com
Twitter – twitter.com/nespahtens
Youtube – youtube.com/nespahtens
Newbies guide to OCR – ocrnewbie.nespahtens.com
Buy and Sell OCR Gear – Buy and Sell FB group
The NE Spahtens Show – The NE Spahtens Show
Events and Reviews
You can see the most up to date calendar of New England OCRs on our website
https://www.newenglandspahtens.com/events
In 2016, we started to move our Facebook events from our members only group, to our public Facebook page.
Admins will create events for all “A” list and #racelocal events on our public page, you can subscribe to them here: http://www.facebook.com/nespahtens/events
For smaller events, anyone can create one here – starting with “NE Spahtens Do “: https://www.facebook.com/groups/nespahtens/events/
We review events in two formats.
Featured Reviews are our expert opinion of an event. We write one per event, and they are typically written by someone who is considered experienced – even an expert – in the OCR world. They are constructive and widely shared.
https://www.newenglandspahtens.com/category/featured-review-2/
Community Reviews are our community opinion. These are submitted by you, and your peers. Everyone is encouraged to write a community review after each event, as it’s a great way to let a race director know your opinion – what could be done better, what was excellent and more.
https://www.newenglandspahtens.com/submit-a-race-review/
Training
Training for OCRs is frequently grassroots, DIY, functional – but always more fun in a group. We have several different training groups in regions around New England – and are lucky to have some fantastic fixed location facilities. It’s not uncommon for us to meet at these locations, or any location for training purposes, and many of the regional groups have regular (or semi regular) training meets. We also have a fantastic training program published to our website weekly, that can be done at home.
This can all be found here – http://training.nespahtens.com
Social
We are a friendly community and make friends easily. In our short time we have seen many friendships and relationships form that have changed the lives of our members in ways no OCR community could have expected when they formed.
Face to face – The best way to meet people is to come to races, training sessions or socials through the year. Find someone in a Spahtens shirt and say hi. Introduce yourself. Make the first move. From then, you’ll be welcomed in, introduced to more names than you can remember, and helped anywhere at any time.
Online – Online is a tricky way to meet people. Tone and inflection in conversation doesn’t exist, and it’s easy to be over-enthusiastic in your posts. Follow our etiquette guide and you should be golden. Remember, you’re in a huge community – introduce yourself, get to know the characters, meet some people at an event and start the conversation.
Team Gear
Athletes of any level love their gear. As a community, we have a range of gear available from our store. You may notice people wearing the “drill shirts” at races – these are custom, high quality tops ordered on a roughly quarterly basis in bulk. If we haven’t got them listed in the store today – we may have them soon. When in doubt, reach out to an admin.
Gear is not a requirement or expectation of being a Spahten. We have all kinds, at all prices available if you do decide to pick something up though.
Business Owners and Fundraising requests
Do you own an OCR, or represent one professionally?
Do you own or represent a fitness, training or similar facility?
Are you raising money or attention for a charity, or personal cause?
Are you a personal trainer, coach or representing a product?
We do not tolerate spam, link baiting or member poaching.
If you have a link, or a code you feel is relevant to the Spahtens – message an admin.
If you have a team you want us to join – we already have one. We’d like if you joined *us*.
If you have a page you want us to like, provide great content thats relevant to the Spahtens.
Field team, street team and other promotional marketing is not permitted.
Please don’t post fundraising requests – everyone has a cause, please keep it to your personal profiles, or message an admin.
Personal links, fundraising requests, links to your business are not permitted without prior admin approval.
If you want us to like and promote your brand, product, facility or race then be active in the community. Race with us. Train with us. Talk to us. Build a relationship with us founded on more than just your ability to make money from our community.
We will remove promotional content, personal service ads, business posts and similar on sight. We reserve the right not to message you about this – but if you feel we acted hastily or by mistake, have a polite conversation with an admin, and we will resolve it.
We have an established community based on athletes getting together to race together – not to promote, sell or do business with each other. If you want to see your business or service get more love from the New England Spahtens, being an active and productive part of that community is a solid start.
At any time, feel free to reach out to a group administrator through Facebook or email.
https://www.newenglandspahtens.com/contact-us/
