By Mathias Eichler
Sponsor:
The adventure podcast about trail running and mountain culture. Subscribe in your favorite podcast player.
The adventure podcast about trail running and mountain culture. Subscribe in your favorite podcast player.
Just listened to Corrine Malcolm and Buzz Burrell discuss the Ironman/Whistler kerfuffle on their latest episode of the ‘Trailhead podcast by UltraSignup‘, and man, if not even these two “voices of our sport” understand how UTMB’s stone system works, then I don’t even know. The two lament that UTMB requires a runner to run 2-3 official UTMB races each year in order to get their stones for the lottery. While that might fit the emotional narrative of the moment, it is just not true.
Stones do not expire. Stones are cumulative.
Their argument insinuates that one has to run exclusively UTMB events to be eligible to enter the lottery each year for a chance to run around Mont-Blanc. Yes, one needs to get a single stones every two years to enter the lottery. But a single stone from a single race, that could literally be a 20K, is enough to keep your account valid. And! The stones don’t expire but add up. You can run any of the community index races to keep your index current in order to put your name into the lottery for any specific distance.
So, to iterate:
This UTMB stone system is no threat to our community. It really isn’t.
Electric Cable CarTM is a product of Einmaleins. © 2018 - 2024. All Rights Reserved.