iRunFar Sheds more Light on Whistler

Meghan Hicks shares more comments from the various entities involved in this kerfuffle. And In reading the various comments in the article from the various entities (Ironman Group, Vail, and local municipalities) it very much sounds like UTMB is leaning heavily into the narrative that they didn’t reach out to Whistler about a possible UTMB race there until after CMTR announced on Instagram in February that the were walking away from Whistler.

Gary responds in the comments:

I’m just going to put this here because it is important and does inform as to the backpedaling on their side right now. IM did NOT close down communications with us in Jan, in fact they had not even received the necessary, requested information from our organization at that point, because we were so embroiled in these ongoing issues with Vail at that time. IM did not receive our internal documents until mid March, and it was two full months after that, at the end of May that they officially informed us they were halting acquisitions. It appears that altering the timeline serves a purpose for them now, but it is 100% untrue.

I think one thing is clear now. With UTMB in our sport, race directors need to be more careful in how they announce their race plans, and operate more guarded. CMTR publicly and definitively announcing that they are walking away from Whistler created the opening for UTMB. It doesn’t matter in the end if UTMB was interested in that area before or after, that is how this will be spun. I bet in hindsight Gary wishes he could take this post on Instagram back as they didn’t expect anyone else to show up and put on a race in Whistler. The fact that it is UTMB stings because their draw is huge as runners sign up to get their stones for their chance to race in Chamonix.

Meghan leads into her article with this:

Here’s a story that reads like a trail running version of the David and Goliath parable.

One big problem with this analogy is that as in the parable David struck and killed Goliath with one shot. It doesn’t look like that’s going to happen here.