Welcome to the 6th Annual Dartmoor Geocoin Race.
This year’s race starts this coming Saturday 9th February and will finish on 30th November. There is no panic to release your geocoin on Saturday, but soon after would be very good. However, PLEASE DO activate your geocoin as soon as possible AND let me know its tracking number. If you want to participate but haven’t yet got a race coin, it is definitely not too late, details below.
Once again I will award 2020 Dartmoor Race Geocoins for the coins with the top 3 mileages. 
There was no appetite to change the rules for this year’s race, so I have left them very much as they were, but have re-worded some of them to make them clearer.
- Coins only start the race once they have been released into a cache to be picked up by a person unknown, NOT by somebody known to you or organised by you.
- You ARE allowed to give your coin to somebody else to release it for you, in which case they MUST grab it from you first. This allows it to be STARTED from a different place in the UK or from a different country. However, once again coins MUST be released into a cache to be picked up by a person unknown.
- No mileage will be counted by the owner visiting with their coins or by somebody else releasing the coin. Any prior mileage MUST be deleted by deleting those logs.
- Coins must NOT be started off in an event.
- Only original Dartmoor 2019 coins can be used – NO nasty proxies please!
- If you bought (or buy) a second coin from me at a cheaper rate it MUST be entered in the race. There always seems to be a couple of coins each year that never get started which is not fair on others who paid the normal price for their coins. This was particularly bad in 2018!
- I am only going to count the number of miles travelled.
Some useful hints and tips:
- My research shows that the majority of geocoins stolen are stolen in the UK. This is the reason why I am happy for you or somebody else to release it in a different country. But the mileage getting there MUST be deleted.
- Physically label your geocoin to say that it is in a race and needs to be moved as far as possible.
- Give as much information about the race on the geocoin description page as possible and include a photo, use the one above if you wish.
- Don’t let cachers keep dipping your coin unless they are going long distances – coins need to be placed in a cache so that they can be moved on.
- If a cacher hasn’t placed your coin within a few days email them and ask them to do so. Don’t let them forget they have it!
- Watch any cache your coin is placed in and ensure that the next visitor logs it as retrieved. If they don’t ask them if the coin was in the cache.
- You can get a really good start by releasing your geocoin in a travel bug hotel. However, these could be more at risk than a normal cache. You also may want to avoid a cache & dash or release it in a PM only cache. However, after it has been retrieved you will have no control.
The geocoin will remain your property and you can set whatever goals you would like on the geocoin page. I would ask you NOT to remove the geocoin’s name but to add to it, e.g. it comes named as Dartmoor National Park 2019 Geocoin, so you could add Sue’s ….. to the front of it. That way everybody can still search for it and I can produce some race details.
If you haven’t got a race coin yet it is definitely NOT too late. Some late entries have done very well and won prizes.
Get a geocoin to enter the race – details here!
Good luck to all. 
The following have entered the race – please let me know immediately if you are not on the list.
If you have not already done so, please activate your geocoin and let me know its tracking number.
| Name | Cacher Name | TB No | Miles | Last Location | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jude Groves | Kerfuffles | TB96VYE | 1,131 | Helsinki, Finland | Visiting |
| Stuart Howe | Stuarthowe11 | TB96VY8 | 383 | Burton on Trent | Visiting |
| Jayne Guppy | Jaynie15 | TB96VX7 | 228 | Exton, Hants | In cache |
| Kevin Bastow | dartmoor striders | TB96VYY | 20 | Dartmoor | In cache - but where? |
| Anne Hamilton | Heavenly MX | TB96VYV | 10 | Barnstable | In cache |
| Colin Masters | Clan Masters | TB96VWK | 3 | Weston-Super-Mare | In cache |
| Andy Lawrie | Amberel | TB96VZ0 | 0 | Worksop | Retrieved |
| Isaac Ogden | heartradio | TB96VT0 | 0 | Exmouth | Retrieved |
| Cathy Pengilly | Pinguigloo | TB96VV0 | 0 | Torquay | In cache |
| Derek Courtney | El Del | TB96VY3 | 0 | Taunton | In cache |
| Janet Kneller | Weather-IT | TB96VWM | 0 | Mitcheldean, Glos | In cache |
| Murray Kohn | MuzzaDazzler | TB96VY7 | 0 | Sevenoaks, Kent | In cache |
| Sue Nickels | Tobytwirl | TB96VY5 | 0 | In transit | Will start its race from another country, not yet known! |
| Andrew Stokes | stokes2342 | TB96VTR | 0 | With Owner | Will start its race from Australia in June |
| Carol Norrish | Dylan1966 | TB96VX6 | 0 | With Owner | Activated |
| Janine Hesp | justmejay | TB96VYT | 0 | With Owner | Activated |
| Justine Tear | The Old Grey Mare | TB96VZD | 0 | With Owner | Activated |
| Lisa Canning | Angelaobscura | TB96VRZ | 0 | With Owner | Activated |
| Louise Auty | Balrogslayers Mum | TB96VYK | 0 | With Owner | Activated |
| Miranda Stephenson | mstopsham | TB96VYD | 0 | With Owner | Activated |
| Neil Armstrong | Finder-Man | TB96VWP | 0 | With Owner | Activated |
| Christine Hutchins | chutch74 | 0 | With Owner | Awaiting Start | |
| Joe Bird | miss130 | 0 | With Owner | Awaiting Start |
