The starting line is in sight for the 2025 SLAGA Travel Bug Race, held between late May 2025 and Jan. 10, 2026! Now is the time to get those travel bug/trackables ready to drop off at the upcoming SLAGA Spring Picnic this April.
A travel bug or trackable is a geocaching game piece, owned by a geocacher, that has a unique digital tracking code etched into it. This code allows geocachers to track its movement on GC.com as it is retrieved from one cache and moved and placed in another by cachers who choose to participate in this add-on to the game of geocaching.
There are various types of trackables, the most common being the dog tag type 'travel bug' (TB) usually accompanied by a small personal token. But there are also geocoins and other customized ones as well.
To enter a travel bug in this year's SLAGA TB Race, you will need to purchase your unactivated travel bug/trackable, personalize it with a token if you choose (highly suggested), activate your trackable, and create an informative TB page with a name, its purpose of RACING, a goal to visit certain places, and a photo so others can clearly identify it. Your racing TB may not visit any geocache nor accumulate any mileage prior to bringing it to the SLAGA Spring Picnic where it is handed off to a board member or fellow geocacher/volunteer race monitor, Mark Derr. (Tags will be available to purchase at the Spring Picnic event, but you will need to bring along your token to attach.)
SLAGA will then take all the racing travel bugs to GeoWoodstock XXI (GCANXX1) in West Virginia on 5/24/2025. This will be the official starting line as they will all be 'dropped' together into the event.
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Race Monitor Mark has summarized some helpful rules and suggestions for your TB and page that may increase its race chances. He suggests including:
- “2025 SLAGA RACING TRAVELBUG” (or at least the word RACE) in your TB Name,
- A picture of your travel bug on the page,
- Race information including the end date of the race (Jan 10th, 2026),
- An item or token attached to the travel bug dog tags, as tags alone tend to be ignored. (GeoCoins are not recommended as they tend to disappear more easily, but it's your choice of trackable.),
- Some goals/mission added to your travel bug page for use during and after the race (example, visit Castles, cemetery caches, travel to all 50 states, etc.).
For this year's race, the following categories will determine the three winners (different from last year).
- Number of Total Logs of any type (not including owner or Slaga Officers)
- Number of Different Geocachers logging the TB (not including owner or Slaga Officers)
- Number of Photos Added to the gallery (not including ones added by the owner)
As a tie breaker, for any category, the total miles shown on the TBs' home pages (minus any starting corrections) will be used to determine the winner.
Please note that each travel bug owner can only have ONE travel bug in the race. Also each owner may win only one category. If an owner wins in multiple categories, the 2nd place TB in the additional category becomes that winner.
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So it's time to get those travel bugs/trackables ready to enter the SLAGA TB RACE this year. Monitor Mark posts race updates often so you can keep track of your TB's progress and ranking in the various categories compared to your fellow SLAGA members trackables.
On your mark ... get set ...
