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Showing posts from October, 2018

End Times: AC100 Now On UltraSignUp

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There's always an exit. Finally. Proof that the ice-caps are melting, Rapture, whatever.  The Ultra World learned this afternoon that the venerable and creaky AC100 was now on Ultrasignup . This transition finally happened, long years after it had been suggested by parties irreverent and impertinent.  RD Ken Hamada is famously cheap, and that somehow the idea that runners were going to pay a fee to effectively process their entry had gotten through to him.  Assistant RD Jakob Herrmann simultaneously announced his departure, and has left Uncle Kenny's Kabin. Hermann didn't go into great detail, but its safe to surmise that enough was enough.  Jakob had the patience for this kind of glass wall-climbing, but has decided to suffer better elsewhere.  AC100 had already startled long-time observers several months ago by finally getting on board with a wait-list, paired with an entry open date in December, not the day after end of race, as previously. The lottery i

What Is The Sound Of One Solo Clapping?

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The Solo Runner category in the current 100-mile race scene is bullshit, and should die immediately. Its unenforceable, and subject to gaming by the more clever out there.  "Oh hey, I didn't really understand that part of the rules where it said a solo runner was Lonesome Me, with no crew or pacers, gosh..." Somehow these people pass their DMV tests. In theory it supposedly confers a registration advantage at the AC100, and reduces the number of cars out on the course and in aid stations. On the face of it, OK; because this is America, and every runner has 3 friends and 4 extra cars. But is a solo runner theoretically a nobody, with no casual admirers?  At the AC100 this is Panic Level DefCon 2. Runners got a multi-signature contract form, pretty much like buying a house. You swore that you know all the rules, you read the rules, understand the rules. Got that Adventure Pass, Crew Parking Pass? Don't give aid out on the road [because there's 12 miles of