Jason Pohl writing on the Aspire Adventure Running blog for a new series called ‘Expecting the Unexpected’ about one of their recent trips on the Lost Coast Trail along the Californian Coast:

The longest crossing, the Rattlesnake High Tide Zone, is a 3-mile stretch that, on this particular trip, runners needed to be through by about 4:30 p.m. 

It would be a push for everyone. 

For the six who didn’t make it in time, it’d be the setting for a story that would dominate the trip.

Hats off for Aspire to show this side of their business. We often like to only share the epic sunset pictures suggesting everything is always filled with stoke and beauty. But out there, good problem-solving skills are not just necessary but will keep you alive and will turn a potentially nasty situation into something worth remembering.

Because this is how stories like these should end:

There is talk, though, of making a t-shirt about what happened up Buck Creek…

Rock Candy Running:

Last year we planted 100 trees with ONETREEPLANTED. For every runner running our races we take one dollar and we plant a tree in a National Forest in the US. We decided to do this instead of handing out cheap, throwaway swag you often find in race bags. Trees are awesome, and this feels right and good.

Small steps, but moving into the right direction.

Is with your own reusable cup from your own hydration vest.

Here’s Runner’s World is trying to show us how to grab a paper cup at an aid station… and creates a huge amount of waste in the process.

I get it, trail races are running by a different clock and in road races “every second counts” but we still run on the same planet and it would be great if road races would adopt our ‘cupless policy’ and figure out how to offer hydration to hundreds or thousands of racers without creating this insane amount of one-time-use paper cup waste.

Great film on Grivel’s blog with Steve House, part of the original team climbing the Slovak Direct in single push and Alan Rousseau who recently climbed the route in an astonishing 21.5hrs.

Gripped.com has a good summary of notable ascents on the route on Denali.

Steve House describes his ascent in his book Beyond the Mountain, which is probably one of my favorite mountaineering books. House is also co-author, along with Kilian Jornet and Scott Johnston, of the incredible “Training for the Uphill Athlete – a manual for mountain runners and ski mountaineers.

I keep linking to these amazing videos telling stories by incredible athletes and mountaineers on gear company websites. This is really a fascinating marketing strategy for these companies, isn’t it?

House ends the video with the following, powerful words:

The mountains are there for the people to find out who they are and why we’re here. And everybody’s got a different story and is probably here for a different reason. Everybody has something inside themselves they have to discover that’s unique to them.

…

What matter’s is going, and searching… and sometimes we find it.

Austria’s big mountain race kicks off this weekend. With four races ranging from 37km to 110km. Plus a team race for two running the full 110km and the obligatory kids race.

The 100km ultra is a full circumnavigation of Austria’s famous mountain Großglockner.

There’ll be a live feed on Youtube.

And finally the gender split for the big ultra, the 100km is an abysmal 12% women. (shakes head)

Another translation from L’Équipe.

On Jim’s focus on outlook in trying to win UTMB:

I don’t know if I will return to the UTMB. If I don’t win this year, yes, I’ll go back because I think I owe myself two tries. Even if my preparation is really going well, I think there are a lot of changes in my life and that I can underestimate the stress it will bring. After two good tests on the UTMB, no matter what happens, I think I will turn the page and I would like to try new races.

Ski mountaineering seems to be the main difference in how European athletes train and win:

But the most motivating thing for me is not related to trail running, it is rather to test a new sport: ski mountaineering. It will allow me to make the transition with the next season in trail running. I think it’s something important to try because it’s one of the biggest cultural differences between American and European performing athletes.

Hannes Namberger would agree with this, I’d say.

Translated from L’Équipe:

The group L’Équipe and UTMB Group announced on Wednesday an agreement to broadcast the UTMB World Series in France, including the UTMB Mont-Blanc, on August 26 and 27.

This was inevitable, but is still a pretty big freakin’ deal and what the pro runners have been wanting for a long time now.

Bryon Powell interviews Kilian on the launch of his new brand NNormal.

Man, I love that this new brand exists. I love this for our sport, for our planet, and personally as a spectator to watch from the sidelines to see if Kilian can succeed with it.

I write IF because I am pessimistic. I was when COROS launched too and am sort of proven wrong. So perhaps I just don’t understand business of this scale, but based on what Kilian is currently aiming to do is either impossible of will be way way watered down.

I so hope I am wrong again.

This cannot stand.

And luckily I am not the only one that feels that way.

Hey, why not be transparent: Here’s the breakdown for my own race, the Beast of Big Creek which is happening July 23rd by Lake Cushman in the Olympic Mountains just above Hoodsport, Washington.

There are a total of 99 runners registered for the two races. 36 are women or 36% of the total.

Broken down among the two distances:

• Summit race (14M): 74 total runners, 24 women (32%)
• Forest race (6M): 25 total runners, 12 women (48%)

Sure, it’s a small race, but I’m proud of that split.

Unlock even more perks and benefits with our utility-enhanced generative art NFT, the Outerverse Passport. Earn ongoing benefits that increase the longer you hold the pass, the events you attend, the NFTs you own from the marketplace, and of course the more you get outside. Think of this as your passport for entry into the Outerverse.

I can’t even with this crypto shit.

We’re not jumping on a bandwagon. Rather, we see NFTs as another useful piece of gear to add to your kit. Like any good outdoor tool, an NFT should blend form and function. It should be beautiful and useful. That’s why we’re committed to embedding real-life benefits into every minting – perks that inspire you to get outside, connect you with community, and reward you for sharing your love of the planet.

$222 in US$ for nothing. Cool, Outside, cool.

PS: I’m curious what Patagonia thinks about that… are they still advertising in Outside?

With his nose. With his nose.

Abigail Beckman for Colorado Public Radio:

Salem is the fourth person to summit America’s Mountain this way.

One must assume this is another one of Laz’s ideas.

These were the shoe/outfit sponsors of the top 10 woman and men at Western States (data taken from iRunfar):

• HOKA: 4
• adidas Terrex: 3
• Salomon: 3
• NIKE: 2
• Saucony: 2
• SCOTT: 2
• Inov-8: 1
• New Balance: 1
• NONE: 2

And the shoe/outfit sponsors of the top 10 woman and men at Hardrock100 (data taken from iRunfar):

• La Sportiva: 2
• NNormal: 2
• Salomon: 2
• Altra: 1
• Aravaipa*: 1
• Patagonia: 1
• SCARPA/Karpos: 1
• Smartwool: 1
• The North Face: 1
• Ultimate Direction: 1
• None: 9

A couple thoughts:

• Western States seem to skew more toward ‘traditional road shoe brand’, while Hardrock seems to be favored by athletes sporting ‘traditional mountain sports brands’, which seems to match the differences in the two races.
• Not a single HOKA athlete among the top finishers at Hardrock. The tie-dye shirts, which were all over the WS course were notably absent at Hardrock.
• NNormal is clearly “overrepresented” with Kilian and Dakota both running Hardrock. But so far there’s not a single product on the shelf for people to buy. Good marketing though.
• There were a lot more runners without major/shoe sponsors at Hardrock.
• *Nick Coury ran Hardrock for Aravaipa and in adidas road shoes, which is incredible in itself.

Jared Beasley dives into the allure of the Backyard Ultra for UltraSignup News:

Temptation is the beauty and the beast of the backyard phenomenon. They are sneaky attractive, like the High Striker at a carnival (The Hammer Game). The bell is in no danger, but we’re curious just how high we can make the puck soar. “Just one more loop,” taunts the backyard website, and these quirky last-man-standing races have cut a swath across the planet.

In many ways what makes the Backyard Ultra style of race attractive is that they promise to be a deceptively simple race format with a very low entry fee. In most cases you could run a 100 miles for less than $100. So, even if you don’t reach your milage goal you’re not out a lot of dough, and with race entry fees rising this is understandably appealing to many.

What makes Backyard Ultra races challenging for race directors is that most permits are time based. It’s hard to get a route approved for a race when you don’t know if runners are going to be out there for 2 or 3 or 4 days. And with entry fees generally low, this becomes a challenging financial proposition. Not trying to sound like a whiney a race director but this is probably why most backyard ultras are hosted on private land. Getting a 4.1… mile course on trails isn’t that hard to come by if you got a few acres behind your house.

I love looped courses and would try myself on one of these races, once. I just need to find the right trail for it.

Ellie Pell on taking her time to recover after finishing 14th at Western States:

It’s been about four weeks since Western States. To say that recovery has been a learning experience would be an understatement.

We love runners who blog. More of this please!

Here for it.

Via Mammut:

Two Swiss alpinists Nicolas Hojac and Adrian Zurbrügg set a new record on July 12th, 2022. It took them 13 hours and 8 minutes to climb the Swiss Skyline route Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau in the Bernese Oberland. The two Bernese beat the previous record set by Ueli Steck by 3 hours and 2 minutes.

Insanely fast climb on an incredible route.

Man, I miss Ueli Steck.

Chris Kostman, President and Chief Adventure Officer for Badwater responds to allegations brought forth by Derek on Marathon Investigation.

Ashley Paulson finished third overall, setting the female record with a time of 24:09:34, besting the 24:13:24 mark set by Patrycja Bereznowska in 2019. This result was, unfortunately, not without controversy. Many are questioning the validity of Ashley’s result, fueled by a past allegations of course cutting, a doping suspension, an incredible finishing split, and observations on the course.

Here’s Chris’ response:

Despite how “astonishing” the various Badwater 135 performances cited above are, I have never heard a single one of these exceptional athletes be accused of cheating. Likewise, I have never believed that any of these athletes cheated, nor was I ever presented with evidence – or even a suggestion – that they cheated in any way. On the contrary, the ultra running community has accepted ALL of these incredible athletes and their exceptional performances with open arms and has celebrated all of them.

…

And yet, here we are today with swift condemnation of an “outlier” performance by an “outlier” athlete, Ashley Paulson, our women’s champion, third place overall finisher, and new women’s course record holder.

One of the loudest calls has been for Ashley to make her GPS data public. This she has done and the data is being evaluated.

This is an ongoing story.

Whenever I fret over what kind of race swag to include and give away at my Rock Candy Running races I remind myself that one of the most prestigious trail running events in the world, the Hardrock 100 charges $435 for their entry fee and you get a plastic license plate frame.

Is kinda boring, don’t you think?

I get what they are trying to do, they want to stand out and be different. And certain colors are already “taken” by certain brands. Nnormal’s emphasis is also to be a sustainable brand and not jump into fashion colors. This all makes all sense, but especially during the night the dark clothing looks… bland and boring.

Quick thought on the always excellent Hardrock100 media coverage:

In our excitement we follow every step of the top runners, and rightfully so.
But in the end Kilian and Courtney won, right? We expected that, more or less.

• Courtney led from start to finish.
• And when Dakota lead throughout the early parts of the race, Kilian was always in striking distance. We hoped for a bit more drama from Francois, but the 15min Kilian carved out in clinical fashion and there was never a tight back and forth.

These are top athletes and I don’t want to take anything away from their achievements. I stand in awe.

What I want to point out is that there’s actually quite a bit of interesting drama happening in the group currently in 10th-40th place, and probably further back even more. People blow up, like really blow up. People rally, find a second wind and overtake a bunch of people.

Sadly, by now the second day has started, it’s weekend and I’m busy with other stuff.
I did wake up at 3am (by happenstance, not with alarm) and checked who’d win the race this year.
But by now I’m busy with life again, while these amazing athletes still fight the good fight, still many miles and many hours from kissing that rock.

To bring the Formula One reference back, since that’s what everyone’s talking about, I remember the days when Michael Schumacher won everything, all the time. Watching the races became predicable and stale. And while we’re a million miles away from this in ultra running, I wonder what the media could do to make it worthwhile for the armchair enthusiast to stay invested in the runners beyond the top 5?

iRunFar on Twitter:

Kilian Jornet (NNormal) wins the 2022 Hardrock 100 in 21:36:24. He breaks François D’Haene’s overall course record of 21:45:50 set last year.

Kilian seems to be on fire.

We’re switching to a live response to somewhere in France where Jim’s furiously training for UTMB…

New from my friends at Tailwind:

Active Hydration is a refreshing way to keep your body well balanced during light workouts – at the gym, on a hike, grabbing a quick run or ride – or just to stay hydrated on your busy days. Active Hydration includes electrolytes, collagen, and Vitamin C to support your active lifestyle. With no artificial or salty aftertaste typically found in electrolyte drinks, Active Hydration delivers a subtle yet satisfying flavor that will leave your tastebuds happy.

Comes in flavors Cherry Acai, Strawberry Lemonade, Tangerine Grapefruit, and Tropical Orange.

I’m a Tailwind Ambassador and samples are en route to me as we speak. Will report back how tasty and useful these new flavors are.

Not exactly sure when the National Park Services added a second webcam to Mount Rainier’s Camp Muir, but I love the angle. There has been for the last decade at least, a webcam at Camp Muir facing south, down the mountain toward Paradise. But this new angle is facing east, overlooking the climber tents perched on the edge of the glacier.

So great.

Just an incredible, incredible story by Dream Lens Media and presented by The North Face. This 30min film is sharing the life, work, and passion of Canadian ultra runner, and founder of Free to Run Stephanie Case. 

After completing the TOR330 race four times, Stephanie Case’s next goal in sight was the TOR450, all while working behind the scenes to organize an all-women expedition in Afghanistan with Free to Run. These women include Zeinab and Zahra, who represent not only Free to Run’s ethos but the spirit of many other women in Afghanistan who believe in education and progress. This is a truly unique moment in history through the lens of Stephanie’s unshakeable strength and incredible belief in the power of the women around her.

Tor des Glaciers, that’s the big 450km one, in 2021 had 58 starters but only 3 women. Stephanie came in 3rd overall and 1st woman. She ran the entire race by herself.  

And while Stephanie’s race was going on, the Taliban rolled back into Afghanistan jeopardizing the entire operation of the Free to Run organization.

If this doesn’t move you, you’re not hooked up right.  

Via Chamonix-based mountain guide Mark Seaton and translated from French:

Hello everyone, The union informs you that given the current conditions in high assembly and the rising temperatures to come, the Chamonix Guide Company has taken the decision to temporarily suspend the ascent of Mont Blanc by the normal route of the Goûter. This decision takes effect today, and until further notice. This decision will be reviewed in light of changing conditions.

Friendly, The union team

For as long as we can remember, we’ve been able to escape ‘the real world’ into the mountains. But our real world has utterly destroyed our planet and our paradise, the place we felt safe is under serious threat. How long until mountain adventures/vacations/races are under so much threat that they don’t become fun anymore. Too much uncertainty, too many dangers and variables to consider to safely sign up, book tickets, reserve huts. This might sound like doomsday, but I’m very unsettled by all this. Very.

Bainbridge Island, Washington local Greg Nance just completed his run across the US. This is becoming a thing now, doesn’t it? 100 miles is not enough anymore, and 200 miles old hats. Let’s just run across the country. That’s 3,071 miles in 80 days.

He’ll be reaching pier 62 in Seattle around 5pm July 13th, if you want to come and say ‘hi!’.

His official finish will be July 17th at Ocean Shores, Washington. Here’s his live tracker.

Fantastic Twitter thread by James Crawford, the author of the upcoming book ‘The Edge of the Plain’:

But when large parts of the watershed are glaciated – and those glaciers are shifting and changing and melting more than ever before – then the border is in constant flux

Not really mountain sports related, but as we hit summer and climb higher on our adventure runs and for our races may we remind ourselves that these places we run through are special and very much in danger of disappearing.

Singletrack – Episode 245:

It is almost time to race. Beast of Big Creek is just around the corner and I couldn’t be more excited. To share a bit of the history of the race and what makes it such so a special event, I have fellow podcaster, trail runner, and Olympia local Ben Mead with me this week.

Thank you Kevin Hayward State Farm, Tailwind Nutrition, and Wildernest Outdoor Store for sponsoring the 2022 Beast of Big Creek. And thanks to Olyfed and Club Oly Road Running for the year-round support.

LINKS

• Ben Mead’s Chasing Cutoff
• Rock Candy Running‘s Beast of Big Creek
• Beast of Big Creek on UltraSignup

Back in 2018, in ‘before COVID-times’, Spartan showed up on the trail running scene. Most of the races they offered had shorter distances, but a couple were ultras. Some races were new ones in new locations, others were partnerships with existing races, like the Lavaredo Ultra Trail in 2021. Spartan also tied these all together and called its circuit a “World Championship”. Not to confuse anyone.

Spartan probably felt the need to diversify into the growing segment of ‘trail running’. The OCR crave is waning and trail races offer a seemingly simpler way to host events. Less fire and less obstacles.

Now in 2022 it seems like Spartan Trail is still around.

Here’s how Spartan breaks down their current race offerings:

• Standalone Events: Classic trail races, mixing the Spartan prime experience with the magic of our sport.
• Shared Events: If you are familiar with Obstacle Course Racing events, our Shared trail races live together with a Spartan festival Weekend adding one more challenge to be raced if you’re an avid Spartan racer. 
• World Championship: Our top tier series of races – events in wonderful locations around the world, from Patagonia to Australia
• Partner Events: Is a category listed on their website but the links don’t go anywhere.

There’s not a single race in the Alps in the lineup, which is quite fascinating. Transgrancanaria seems to be the biggest name still on their global circuit. Is anyone running that circuit? Following the racers? Reporting on the events?

Still the best-looking GPS watch, the Suunto 9 Peak is on sale for the first time during Amazon’s Prime Days. You can save 20%. Very nice.

Alright, we’re keeping a theme here. The Eiger Ultra Trail (by UTMB) is happening July 13-17th in the Swiss Alps. To not constantly focus on Hardrock 100, which gets overblown media attention anyways, I thought I’d look at another big race and compare the gender/sex split for the runners entered.

The Eiger Ultra Trail has four main races during their 5 day event. (I did not count the couples race, or their new E250 team race in this calculation).

There are a total of 3,544 runners on the starting list, 1,135 are women or 32% of the total.

This breaks down as follow for the various races:

• E101 – 833 total runners, 113 women (14%)
• E51 – 1030 total runners, 277 women (27%)
• E35 – 718 total runners, 259 women (26%)
• E16 – 963 total runners, 486 women (51!)

I have a theory on why the big distances have such low participation by women: It’s called patriarchy in the family home.

New mini film on BlackDiamond.com ‘Into the Route’:

Follow the Patitucci photo team on a journey of partnership, pain, and recovery as they pioneer multi-day trail runs through the Alps.

Watch this if you’re longing for some beautiful scenery on high alpine trails and want to be inspired by some awesome people doing cool things in the Alps.

PS: I would love to know what camera Dan Patitucci is using… looks so light and small.

Mark Gurman for Bloomberg:

The Apple Watch is set to get its “Pro” moment this fall with a new extreme sports edition.

I mentioned this rumor before. What’s interesting about this Gurman report is the acknowledgment of the possible larger battery life, a key feature required of a ‘rugged’ watch to be considered a serious product. Gurman also mentioned that the rugged watch could be the ‘pro’ model, which in Apple’s terms usually means the premium or higher priced model.

I always love the framing of endurance sport activities in tech media:

That smartwatch will be designed to appeal to extreme sports athletes and anyone who might otherwise buy a high-end Garmin sports watch for intense workouts.

“INTENSE WORKOUTS”… duuuuuuude…. so intense, that workout.

Also funny that these tech reporters can only think of Garmin as a competitor in this space.

Too bad Kilian just signed with COROS. Can you imagine Kilian running UTMB with a stealth Apple Watch pro and dropping by Cupertino for the launch in September showing off the capabilities of the watch and how an Apple product performed on trail running’s largest stage?

Sabrina Stanley, women’s winner of Hardrock in ’21 and ’18, on the recent lottery changes:

Hardrock’s family should be trail runners in general, not people who have finished the run X number of times, or are personal friends of the board. The continuous use of the word family in the manner the event uses it to justify their lottery system is exclusionary. 

…

Where do non-binary people go in the lottery? When will women be allowed 50% of the field regardless of how many apply? Maybe women aren’t applying because they have been neglected since the start of the event. 

…

I will not be running Hardrock this year.

Any man ready to step up and follow her lead?

Twitter user @aidstationfireb is collecting some interesting historical data on next week’s epic showdown in the San Juan Mountains:

The race has been historically overwhelmingly American, with of the 3110 total race entries, 2932 are from the US (94.3%), and of the 2052 race finishes, 1910 are from the US (93.1%).

…

This account has several twitter threads, diving into the data on UltraSignUp and the Hardrock website.

Events like this, with a single race distance and a small field of runners are catnip for data fans. Great stuff.

David Roche on Twitter:

Fun fact: @MaxKingOR broke the @Strava algorithms for Grade-Adjusted Pace in winning Mt. Marathon. The ~1 mi downhill drops 2800 ft, an insane steepness that causes the GAP algorithm to think it’s impossible to run. The result? A 3:55 min/mi GAP downhill! With parts at 2:30 GAP

Kind of fun to realize that we as humans are still capable of pushing the AIs beyond their capacity. We still rule – for now.

New report coming out from the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy:

European cycling tourism is worth $44b, which is 17% higher than Europe’s cruise industry.

These types of report fascinate me. Especially for folks living close to “working forests”. We’ve always been told that cutting trees is WAY more lucrative than recreation would ever be. I’d love for someone to do a longterm study to test this theory.

Shane Darden asked yours truly about my favorite region on the Olympic Peninsula:

The Staircase Region is the most accessible area to access the Olympic National Park from Puget Sound. So I asked Mathias Eichler, host of the Singletrack podcast and author of Adventure Running, Exploring Olympia’s Trails, for advice on running in the Olympics Staircase section.

These are my home mountains and I can’t wait to invite you all in just a couple of weeks to run Beast of Big Creek.

Packed weekend in Europe for the UTMB group. Between 7th and 10th of July there are three UTMB World Series Events happening:

• In Spain the Val d’Aran by UTMB
• In France the Restonica Trail by UTMB
• And in Switzerland the Trail Verbier Saint-Bernard by UTMB

The route of the X-Alpine of Trail Verbier Saint-Bernard also stops along Champex and La Fouly, which are along the UTMB route. These towns sure are buys during the summer month, aren’t they?

Ray Maker on DC Rainmaker:

Over the past 7 days there’s been a slew of folks with certain GPS watches seeing accuracy issues, whereby the GPS track is offset from reality (usually in a specific direction). This often results in GPS tracks where the visual pattern might be correct, but it’s not in the correct location. Meaning, it’s as if someone shifted your route slightly to the side, ultimately letting you walk on water, or run through buildings. Alternatively, it just might have weird gaps, or be outright dumpster-fire wrong.

I’ve had some issues with tracking, erratic lines and complete jumps several blocks over from where I actually ran. If you ask my friend, he just tells me to buy a COROS and dump my old Suunto. But I still have hope that even though my watch is aging, the issues are GPS data related and not the problem of the watch itself.

The issue has to do with the ephemeris data file, also called the EPO file (Extended Prediction Orbit) or Connected Predictive Ephemeris (CPE). Or simply the satellite pre-cache file.

If you had a issue with GPS tracking accuracy with your watch there seems to be an easy fix:

The good news is the fix is simple: Just sync your watch to get an updated copy.

Alright then.

Headline links straight to PDF.

Some highlights:
(And I grossly simplified the answers here, please check out the full document to learn about the methodology how these answers came to be.)

What motivates you to do trail running:

• ‘Keeping in shape physically’ was the number one selection followed by ‘discovering new places’ and ‘feeling in harmony with nature’. Only in fourth place was ‘preparing for a race’.

Fascinating that the race focus wasn’t ranked higher!

Top shoes brands (globally!):

1. Salomon
2. Hoka
3. Other
4. La Sportiva

La Sportiva in 4th, and no Altra at all? Yes, Altra could be lumped into the Other category, but the survey breaks this down all the way to Sketchers with 0.6%… you’d think more folks would wear Altras than Sketchers?!

Which smartwatch do you have:

• Garmin (almost 50%!)
• Suunto (20%)
• COROS (8%)

COROS has in a short period of time captured 8% of the global market, which is truly impressive.

Annual budget for trail running:

• €200-400

So, like on pair of Speedlands…

Do you have a coach?

Over 68% of runners don’t have a coach!

What type of injury do you have resulting from training?

No plantar fasciitis listed

How many races do you run in a year?

39% said 4-6 races a year with the favorite race distance being marathon to 50km.

There’s some cool nuggets of information in there. ITRA had over 9,500 folks responding to this survey.

Speaking of Hardrock, here comes an announcement via Instagram:

This change is being made to strike a better balance between welcoming new runners to Hardrock and maintaining the “Hardrock Family” aspect of the run.

No mention of how to address the gender imbalance that the starting line.

This year’s Hardrock 100 has an incredible number of pro runners lining up at the top of the entry list. iRunFar has the overview:

Both the men’s and women’s fields are stacked, with most of the focus on the men’s side being on the two favorites, Kilian Jornet and François D’Haene, both previous champions. In the women’s field, despite a DNF last year, Courtney Dauwalter stands ready to take on two-time defending champ Sabrina Stanley. That said, there is plenty more talent in both fields, and as we all know, 100 miles is a long way and anything can happen!

Say what you will about the antics around the race and the insane discrepancy between the number of male and female runners, Hardrock 100 attracts some of the top ultra athletes from around the world for a very exclusive jog around the high alpine Rocky Mountains.

I am bad at stock market speculation, because I decide too much with my heart, and with that said, here are my picks for the win:

• Maggie Guterl
• Kilian Jornet

Singletrack – Episode 244:

Just nine days before the race Melissa Tucker got the call off the wait list and got to fulfill her dream to run Western States. This week on Singletrack she shares how she dealt with being undertrained, how she was not being able to eat due to the heat and how she still made it to Auburn in one piece.

Melissa is also the new race director for Secret Beach in Gold Beach, Oregon and we chat about the challenge and beauty of putting on a race right on the beach.

LINKS

• WS Twitter announcement of Melissa getting picked off the wait list
• Melissa Tucker on Instagram
• All Terrain Adventures, Melissa’s racing company
• Secret Beach on Instagram
• Secret Beach on UltraSignup

I really shouldn’t be linking to Outside because of their shitty NFT project, but here we go anyways:

REI is changing the name of its guided trip services from REI Adventures to REI Experiences to better reflect the direction of that division, according to Mark Seidl, REI divisional vice president of REI Experiences.

Seidl continues:

“Our international trips were profitable and we were an industry leader, but we realize not everyone can afford these trips. We were catering to a select group. By focusing on domestic trips, we can offer a wider range of experiences at a range of price points and skill sets.”

Closing a profitable side of your business after 33 years and focusing entirely on domestic ‘experiences’ instead of international adventures is a bold, and somewhat puzzling move.

Karl Meltzer for Speedgoat Mountain Races:

From a local race, to The IRONMAN Group, to UTMB, the Speedgoat Mountain Races has grow into a household name across the United States.

I don’t think it was quite as random as Karl is making it sound, but this video does shed a bit of insight into how his local race became one of the few official UTMB/Ironman races here in the US.

Side note for tech biz nerds:
Increasingly all these short promo videos are being posted directly to Instagram. Trying to find them on Youtube is pointless. I’ve gotten used to marketing companies promoting their events via Youtube rather than their website. In fact, most race websites don’t even have a news/blog page where they post press releases or marketing collateral like this video. Now Youtube is being skipped in favor of Instagram. Google is not going to like that. And why this type of content is not being posted directly to their websites I will never understand.

We are hiring!

If you want to be Kilian’s pacer in a race as special as the Hardrock 100, we just need you to tell us more about yourself and your athletic achievements. Are you ready?

What a great way to capture lots and lots of email addresses! Smart move.

Terrific interview by Doug Mayer on Run the Alps with Buzz Burrell, who after selling Fastest Known Time to Outside is now running races in the Alps.

Buzz on Chamonix:

The biggest thing I noticed here, which also goes back to when I was first here 15 years ago, is the terrific support for mountain sports. The municipality and the entire culture supports not only mountain culture, but mountain sport. 

On the idea that trails are too crowded:

“Crowded” is not something I experience here at all. It’s an odd way of looking at it. If I like doing something, shouldn’t I appreciate that other people like it too? To say, well, now that I’m here, I want to keep everyone else out… that kind of thinking is a problem in my opinion.

On the cultural support of mountain sports:

Few places in the states exhibit mountain culture, even though running is a huge sport. You can enter the New York city marathon with 49,000 of your closest friends, but in terms of events like the Mont Blanc Marathon weekend, the government doesn’t support it. 

Take Western States 100. It’s one of the most famous races in the world. And it’s capped at 350 people. Or Hardrock 100 in Colorado. It’s capped at 145. 

Those events are like large family reunions, which is great, but that also means they are very exclusive. 

This is because the municipalities and other forms of government don’t support it. That’s intentional, not by omission.

Boulder is a great example of this attitude. Competitive outdoor events are illegal in City Open Space, according to municipal code. They passed a law specifically outlawing any competitive event on city open space. The same is true in Boulder County.

I think it’s just a cultural thing:  What they are saying is this: “Nature is good. People are bad.”

I really want to emphasize, you don’t have that kind of thinking here. Sport is part of the mountain culture. You’re appreciating the mountain environment. You’re protecting the environment. You’re protecting the resource and you’re enjoying it by having competitive events.

I wished Buzz hadn’t sold Fastest Known Time to Outside, and not because I didn’t understand his reasoning for wanting to move on. I just wished he would’ve found a buyer not known for pissing on trail runners and minting NFTs. But I am glad Buzz is still around, and still speaking truth to our community. Comments from Americans, highly regarded in our sport are invaluable. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence Run the Alps posted the interview on July 5th, the day when every American is waking up with a red, white and blue hangover. More of these fireworks, please!

It’s July 4th, and really the only thing worth celebrating is the Mount Marathon race in Seward, AK.

Watch the live feed of the insane race up and down this crazy steep mountain RIGHT NOW on their Facebook page.