The TXGA Texas Challenge (known as “The Challenge”) began as a friendly competition between the major geographic regions of Texas. Each year a Texas Region is designated to host the The Challenge under the guidance of the Texas Geocaching Association. Geocachers of all skill and athletic levels are invited to participate.
Geocaching is an individual adventure sport, as such it is important for each participant to know their own physical capabilities. While participating in the Challenge each person will be responsible for any damage caused by themselves and any person(s) under their supervision, including but not limited to children, elderly, mentally or physically handicapped individuals. This includes injury to self, others and damage to any vehicle(s) or property. The entity and members of TXGA, the host city, venue facilities will not be held accountable for participants.
There are eight regional teams from Texas competing in the The Challenge; Central, East, North, Northeast, South, Southeast and West. Regional teams are comprised of geocachers from across the state, not just geocachers from within that particular region. It is up to the participant, not the team, to pick the region with which they will be competing. Remember, The Challenge is a fun and “open” competition for geocachers of all skill levels and teams must accept any geocacher that chooses to play for them.
Geocachers from outside the State of Texas are welcome to attend and participate in the The Challenge. If more than ten Out of State participants are from a specific geographical location, they are welcome to participate as a designated team representing their geographical location. If there is not a minimum of ten Out of State participants from a specific region, then all Out of State participants will participate as the Out of State team. If there is less than ten Out of State participants in total, then the Out of State participants must join a Texas regional team in order to compete.
A minimum of ten participants are required to form a team.
All teams must name a Team Captain to be their representative before the The Challenge. Team Captains will have knowledge of registrants for their teams through the Registration page. Captains are entitled and encouraged to contact registrants for team specific strategy. The Regional Representative is responsible for assigning a Team Captain if one is not elected beforehand.
Host region participation is allowed, though individuals assisting in the planning of the The Challenge competition will not be allowed to participate with or assist their region’s team. These individuals include anyone with inside knowledge that could benefit their team, specifically anyone involved in the hiding of Challenge caches and the planning of the Challenge portion of the event. If proof is found of inside information of any region with members of the planning team, the competitors will be disqualified and their team ineligible from winning.
Any person(s) found carrying multiple scorecards during the competition will have all scorecards in their possession repossessed and disqualified. Any person(s) found tampering with caches will be disqualified. Any participants found breaking local or state laws to obtain caches will be disqualified.
DISQUALIFICATION (continued)
(Rules are subject to change – please review frequently)
FIELD OPERATORS
Field Operators are people who will be observing various areas to ensure fun and fair game-play. They will be identifiable by a specific badge. Should one see foul play, they have the power to confiscate scorecards and disqualify players. Decisions made by the Field Operators is final and may only be appealed to the Challenge Chairperson AFTER the competition. Field Operators are allowed to use cameras and/or video equipment. Any electronic evidence will be kept private to Challenge officials and not distributed for any reason. Any violation caught on film or video will result in immediate disqualification of the person(s) involved