Mr Trail Safety Speaks!

  Lotteries are a reality in 100-mile ultras. RealEndurance. com's Gary Wang summarized that " The sport has grown more than 10x in last 20 years. In 1996, there were 973 runners finished an 100 miler, and there were only 18 100m events." Several images swiped from RealEndurance.com In l ate 2016, Hard Rock 100 was accused by Aaron Denberg; alleging fraud in the raffle system, insider favoritism, and financial hardship by runners who’ve spent $17,000 to get to the starting line. Where he got that $17k number is beyond me. But it seems to fuel a lawsuit animus. Denberg also alleges misconduct in the trail-work process, scree spillage etc. All this is chickenshit compared to what the USFS deals with on a daily basi s; especially in light of a savage in coming Trump Administration and its bla zing l ove for all things logging, mining, fr acking and drilling. Western States has had a lottery since 1981 . The draw is public, and you’re welcome to sit in the Pl...

Yours truly back in the day when a boy and his friend's shark could run a 100—Wasatch, 1992. CHANGES IN THE ULTRA LANDSCAPE The whole landscape of ultras have changed radically in the last 10 years. The day of RDs putting on races because they love the sport are giving way to corporate-sponsored series, with all attendant features and blemishes. Runners themselves have changed since I got into all this back in 1989. I came from a backcountry ski/travel/mountaineering focus. You self-insert, and self-extract. Runners now reflect the widely suburban culture, that expects free parking, deep swag-bags, medals and probably buckles for their 10ks. Races and their entry requirements are also part of this education process. A 50k is a different order of business than a 50-mile, 100k, and a 100-mile. We have legacy 100s that have not significantly changed their qualification requirements since Day One. Gutting out a 50 on the flats is not likely to ge...