Donate and Support the PTRA

Francesco Puppi on his blog with the plea:

The mission of the Pro Trail Runners Association is to help athletes to share their opinions and be part of shaping the future of our sport and the environment where we practice, as well as the athletes physical and mental health and the fairness and sustainability of the competitions. We want to preserve the rights of athletes, especially in situations related to contracts, injuries, health and media relationships.

If you care about the spear-end of our sport and love watching the best athletes perform year after year you totally should support this cause and donate to help their efforts.

As a side note: Why does the PTRA not have corporate donors yet? I understand that the PTRA might want to stay non-biased, but I would bet that these business with their billion dollar budgets would want to support these efforts and want to see these athletes thrive? And the PTRA could use the funds. There’s been a lot of talk over the past weeks about contract negotiations and compensations for athletes. There are other ways business with the deep pockets can support the “athlete landscape” overall without just signing individuals directly. See also my previous comment about the AAC Grant for trail runners. What we don’t have yet in our sport are “elders” – individuals who have made it, are retired with cash to burn and use it to fund and secure the culture of our sport. These folks would underwrite efforts like this and give direction through their presence. We need a few more years of growth of this to happen.