Welcome to Sugar Rush VRC Signature Event at the Hershey Lodge in Hershey, PA!

Agenda

The following schedule is subject to change. The Sugar Rush schedule will be finalized in mid-December. 

Please note all times are projected and are subject to change during the event.

Friday, January 3rd, 2025

12:00 PM - Check In, Inspection, Practice Fields & Pits Open

1:30 PM - Opening Ceremony & Event Meeting

2:30 PM - Qualification Matches and Skills Open

5:30 PM - Dinner Break (Skills will remain open as available)

6:30 PM - Qualification Matches resume

9:30 PM - Qualification Matches End and Skills Close

10:00 PM - Practice Fields & Doors Close

Saturday, January 4th, 2025

7:30 AM - Doors & Practice Fields Open

8:00 AM - Qualification Matches and Skills Open

11:30 AM - Qualification Matches End and Skills Close

11:45 AM - Alliance Selection

12:00 PM - Lunch Break

1:00 PM - Elimination Matches

3:00 PM - Awards

3:30 PM - Doors Close & Shuttle to Hershey Park & Hershey's Chocolate World

Voluntario

We will release the Sugar Rush Volunteer Form in early December! By completing the form, this will allow us to plan positions internally. We will reach out prior to the event to confrm your assignment! In the mean time, please send a message to the Event Partner through the RobotEvents page for more information.

Política de emergencia/mal tiempo

Teams will be notified 24 hours prior to the event if there is a weather concern for the event.

Refund and Payment Policies

If the Event Partner cancels the event: 

No refunds will be made.  

If a Coach/Mentor completes registration for the event then chooses to withdraw or not attend:

Due to the high expense for the event, registration fees are non-refundable. 

The event registration fee must be paid within 4 weeks of registration. Teams that are added to the event from the waitlist, are required to pay for the event registration fee within 1 week. Teams registering less than 2 weeks before the registration deadline must pay at the time of registration. Any team that fails to pay for their registration within these guidelines, will be moved to the waitlist and the spot will be opened up to other teams.

Date: 3-Jan-2025 - 4-Jan-2025

Información de viaje

Please review the hotel website for directions. https://www.hersheylodge.com/contact.php

The closest airport in Harrisburg International Airport https://www.flyhia.com/. It is approximately a 15 min drive to the venue.

Hotel Reservations

In Pennsylvania, students under 18 years of age cannot check into a room by themselves. For rooms reserved exclusively for students, the Hershey Lodge requires a list of all reservations associated with your school or organization. For example, if John Doe (a student) has a reservation under East High School, this reservation must be included on a list with others from East High School.

To facilitate this process, we have provided the adult contacts for each school or organization (as listed in Robot Events) to the Hershey Lodge Reservation team. The lodge will group your reservations so they can pre-key and pre-package them according to the school or organization. They will also ensure that rooms are blocked near each other.

At check-in, only the adult contacts for each school or organization will be allowed to pick up the packets and distribute the keys to their students. If the designated adult contact is not attending the event, you must notify the Hershey Lodge and provide the correct adult contact information.

Regarding payments, if the school or organizational contact is not paying for all the rooms in their block, the adult responsible for payment will need to call Hershey Lodge to finalize payment for the room and tax before the arrival date. This applies to each individual reservation.

For room reservations for both adults and students, please use the following link:  https://www.hersheylodge.com/qr/LSBVV6API1/     Our group room rate is $185 per night plus 11% taxes.    Please be aware that the room block cut-off date is Monday, November 18, 2024.  After the cut-off date, rooms and/or group rate may no longer be available.   Cancellations must be made 72 hours prior to the day of arrival.  No changes or cancellations are permitted within 72 hours of arrival.

If you have any questions, need assistance with reservations, or require further help, please contact Hershey Lodge Group Reservation Coordinator, Corissa Wagner, at 717-520-5431 or their reservation agents at 855-729-3108, and they will assist you.

Behavior 

Please remember that while VEX and RECF rules apply to the competition itself, everyone must always follow federal, state, and local laws, as well as the policies of Hershey Lodge. For more information on Hershey Lodge's policies, visit: https://www.hersheyentertainmentandresorts.com/policies-and-guest-expectations.

Webcast

We will release Sugar Rush Webcast Links in mid-December! 

Judging Format

Digital Engineering Notebook Submissions / In Person Team Interviews: Team interviews will be conducted in-person at the event. Engineering notebooks will be submitted digitally for evaluation  via a link found within the "My Account" panel of the team contact on RobotEvents. The notebook submission deadline is Friday, December 27, 2024 at 11:59 PM EST.  

Payment

Due to the high expense for the event, registration fees are non-refundable. The event registration fee must be paid within two weeks of registration. Teams that are added to the event from the waitlist, are required to pay for the event registration fee within 1 week. Teams registering less than two weeks before the registration deadline must pay at the time of registration. Any team that fails to pay for their registration within these guidelines, will be moved to the waitlist and the spot will be opened up to other teams.

Event Swag

Event Swag is now available for pre-order to be picked up at event registration! T-Shirts and Sweatshirts can be purchased on our swag store. Please note that the store will close on December 15, 2024. 

We will have a VERY limited supply of swag available on-site, so please purchase in advance if possible!

Signature Event Early Bird Policy

All Signature Events will have a specific Early Bird Registration that is independent of all local/regional Early Bird systems:

• Each team starts the season with three (3) opportunities to register during the Signature Event Early-Bird period
  • An opportunity is taken away each time the team registers for a Signature Event, whether during the Signature Event Early-Bird period or Standard period
  • A Signature Event Early-Bird opportunity is not taken away if a team registers for a tournament hosted by their school or organization (where the team’s coach is the Event Partner)
• Signature Event Early Bird Registration will open 16 weeks before the event at 12:00PM EST
  • Note: Modifications to this may be made for events in August and September
• Standard Registration will open 14 weeks before the event at 12:00PM EST
• An Event Partner may register their own teams to their Signature Event during Signature Event Early Bird Registration no matter how many other Signature Events they are already registered for  
  • The Event Partner must be the Primary Contact for the teams they are registering

Team Swapping is not allowed within 2 weeks of the event