COVID19| The Overland Event | Motorcycle Travel Event

We safely held The Overland Event in 2021 as we did in 2020 - by all following some simple rules.
Please Read the Following.

If you've been to The Event before you'll know we don't have many rules, (No Glass, No Campervans and No Dogs being the cardinal ones). During the Coronavirus pandemic however, to allow us to be Socially Close but Physically Distant, we have had to add a few more rules.

BEFORE YOU TRAVEL - if you have any of the symptoms of Coronavirus please STAY AT HOME. As well as risking the health of your fellow Overlanders, an outbreak associated with The Event could put our ability to hold the event in future years at risk.
Bring a Mask or other Face Covering - Your face covering can be of any sort (maybe even the necktube you rode in wearing!), but wearing a face covering will be compulsory in some areas of the event. These include the indoor presentation areas, Cafe area, toilet blocks. If you have an exemption from wearing a face covering, please email Saul on saul@overlandevent.com at least 7 days prior to the event. This enables us to make reasonable adjustments for you, and to make sure you get the right admission wristband.
Bring your Overland Stackable! - while we are still in a pandemic, our limited supply of Overland Stackable pint pots will be for sale rather than on a deposit basis for infection control reasons, so if you have one at home from a previous year, please bring it with you - we loathe plastic waste and want to use as few disposable glasses as possible. If you have another pint size drinking vessel you'd like to bring instead, that's cool too (but remember, No Glass).
Bring a small First Aid Kit - whilst we'll still have First Aiders on standby, self-treatment should be your first action this year, so bring your own supply of plasters and a small dressing. Our First Aiders can advise on your self-treatment from a safe distance, and if necessary will suit up in PPE and treat you themselves, but this adds both cost (the PPE has to be thrown away afterwards) and delay, so self-sufficiency is the name of the game as far as possible.
Bring a personal bottle of hand sanitiser - whilst we will have hand sanitiser dispensers around the site, and refill stations for you to refill your own hand sanitiser bottle, every penny we can save on hand sanitiser is another penny off our costs, which means another penny for charity!

ON ARRIVAL - on arrival at The Event you'll be asked to take your helmet off and will have your temperature taken with a non-contact thermometer aimed at your forehead. This is to make sure that you are not running a fever. In the event that your reading is a bit on the high side, you'll be given a shady spot to sit in with a bottle of water to see if your temperature will stabilise.
Next, if you're double jabbed, you'll need to show either your COVID Pass (see email to ticket holders and news story on how to get one) or your vaccination card issued to you at the time of your first jab.
If you are not double jabbed, you'll need to show evidence of a negative lateral flow test from within the last 48 hours

ON ADMISSION - like in 2020, along with your wristband, you'll be given a card which acts as a reminder of what we need you to do over the course of the weekend. You can also view this as a free, exclusive and rather odd souvenir of the Event! I mean, we'd like it if you bought a t-shirt and a mug as well, but...
If you have an agreed exemption from wearing a mask (see above), this will be marked on your wristband so that you can enjoy the event without having to explain to anyone why you aren't wearing a mask in the designated areas.
At this point you will also be given any pre-bought Bar Tokens (see below)

DURING THE EVENT - wash your hands regularly. In addition to the traditional soap and water for a 20 second hand wash, we'll have hand sanitiser stations around the site, and refills available for personal hand sanitiser bottles if required
Wear a mask in indoor areas (unless you have an exemption wristband (see above). Each presentation is only 45 minutes long, so wearing masks indoors allows a balance between the potential infection risk and your comfort
Be Understanding - some people have exemptions from mask wearing, so if you see someone without one in an area where they are needed, glance at their wristband - it might be different to yours - before reminding them.
Don't encroach on personal space - be aware of how close you are to others.
Follow any instructions from the organisers and volunteer stewards - running the event in these times is even tougher than normal. Any instructions you are given are for the smooth running of the event, and to ensure we are able to use the venue and get a licence in future years too. Anyone who fails to follow stewards instructions, or consistently breaks our simple rules, will be issued with a refund and escorted from the site.
Cleaning up - we will have increased cleaning of all communal areas, including presentation venues. This may mean that on occasion, there are slight delays on a room being ready - please bear with us. Sanitising materials will also be available at certain points for you to use yourself in order to look after the safety of yourselves and others. You might even be asked to lend a hand with cleaning up to get it all done more swiftly - please pitch in if you are able.
First Aid - as we've said above, the arrangements for first aid during the pandemic are more complicated and mean that we are having to operate a four tier approach:

If you have a minor injury, please administer self-treatment – you will hopefully have remembered to bring a small first aid kit with plasters and dressings for minor cuts etc. as advised above.
If you don't have your own first aid kit, or the injury is still minor but a little more serious (needs a bandage rather than a plaster perhaps), our First Aid team will assess and “treat” you from a distance, i.e. they will give you (or someone you live with and are not socially distancing yourself from) advice and if required first aid supplies, and you clean the wound and apply bandage yourself under the direction of our first aider and to the first aiders satisfaction. In essence, the kind of first aid you'd apply to yourself at home or in a remote location.
If your injury/illness is more serious, our First Aid team will don all of the appropriate PPE and administer treatment.
In the unlikely event that CPR looks as if it is going to become required, we are advised to call an ambulance but not attempt to perform manual CPR as it is an aerosol-generating process that our level of PPE cannot protect the team against. This means that we will be applying a precautionary principle and will call an ambulance for less unwell patients than would usually be the case, so don't be alarmed if you are unwell as discover we've got the paramedics to you! We have a defibrillator on site.

Bars - We have increased bar outlets, (although we are are back to our usual extensive choice of ales) in order to reduce queuing. We will also be sticking with the token system for all drinks to reduce infection vectors of change being given and card machines being handled. Details have been emailed to Event Passport holders and buying tokens in advance of the event will save you money!