By HPRS Race Director John Lacroix
I want to ask you to think about a time when you spoke to someone who had recently been terminated from their employer. Perhaps you asked them, “What happened?” The answer that followed, more often than not, included a narrative where it was their “asshole boss” or some other grave injustice that led to their termination. It’s almost always somebody else’s fault. “They’re an asshole, I got snitched on, and Steven has always worked against me.” Seldom is there an admission of personal guilt, or any kind of holding oneself to a higher level of personal accountability for behaviors that contributed to the problem that caused the ultimate solution.
A few weeks ago, one of our community members spoke openly to me about a friend of hers who loves to joke about their being “banned for life” from all HPRS events. This isn’t the first time that I’ve heard of someone making light of, or bragging about, a situation that could have been avoided altogether. I personally don’t think anyone being banned from a race series is funny, or worthy of being made light of. The story is usually always “That RD is a real asshole” and typically void of any admission of guilt, flawed behavior of one’s own, or even a smidge of “I was wrong and deserved it.” Imagine that…
Before we go any further, I’ll do the personal accountability thing and tell you that I’m no angel. I was selected to run in the 2017 Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run, entered the Vermont 100, got into Wasatch, and decided to run the Leadville 100 in order to complete the Grand Slam that year. However, Ken Chlouber and the Leadville 100 made a last-minute change of the rules of entry for Grand Slam participants in order to prevent me from running in their event. Why? Because I was indirectly being banned for life.
Why was I banned? Because I disagree with Leadville’s version of their history, and vocally spoke out against what I felt was a substandard product. It’s nobody’s fault but my own that I was banned, and I’m not the only one. There are countless others who have also been banned from ever running Leadville again, simply for telling the truth about its creation, and the path the event has taken over the last decade. It’s our human nature to soften our personal responsibility for something. We’re always a salesperson, selling ourselves and our personal brand along the way.
Are we wrong for telling the truth? No, we felt Jim Butera still deserves the praise he earned by creating and directing the event at its inception. Are we victims of some grave injustice? In the immediacy following my banishment, I thought so; but we’re certainly not victims of anything, and it may have taken me far too long to see that reality for myself. Sure, it sucks to be banned from ever running in a race or with a specific community ever again. Why it’s not a grave injustice is because Leadville is a private business, and they can ultimately refuse service to anyone for something as little as, “We don’t like your choice of incredibly short running shorts.”
Leadville and HPRS are not the first race(s) to ban runners in our country. For as long as I’ve been an ultrarunner, stretching as far back as 2005, I have known of countless runners who have been banned from specific races or series in the sport. The list of reasons vary from failure to pay entry fees, to getting caught cheating/course cutting, to littering, to unsportsmanlike conduct towards volunteers, crews, or other runners, to straight up talking to the Race Director or business owner in a way they did not appreciate.
The reality we must all accept is that just about every race is put on by some kind of business entity be they private or non-profit. Regardless of if a race is put on by a private business, non-profit, or some runner looking to give back to the sport they’ve benefited from; they each have the right to provide or deny service to anyone. That’s right kids, the customer is NOT always right, and the customer can be fired from doing business with the entity.
Rather than making light of the situation or telling jokes, that old narrative of how “it’s somebody else’s fault than my own” takes center stage in our sport like it does everywhere else. I’m sure you may also know a runner who has been banned… Have they ever honestly admitted to their own negative behaviors? Did they honestly tell you what they said or did? Or is it just that the RD is an asshole? This isn’t about how we feel banishment is right or wrong, it comes down to what is the right of the business to ban you. HPRS is not unique on this front, as countless race directors and organizations have banned people all across the country. Ultrasignup.com went so far as adding a “banned runner” section on the back end of races who host registration on their site. Yup.. any RD who uses Ultrasignup can prevent you from ever signing up for their race again!
I have indeed banned, personally fired as a customer, a number of individuals from ever running with us at HPRS again. I don’t think that it’s funny at all. I can tell you, honestly, that there is a reason for each and every banishment that I personally feel is more than justified. My business, my rules. In 2020 I assembled a seven-member (4 Women, 3 Men) HPRS Advisory Board, and one of our collective jobs is to discuss the decision to ban or reinstate customers. We take these conversations seriously, and where necessary and warranted, we make it our duty to try and work with select customers to try and avoid banning them.
HPRS is building a community, a solid customer base, of individuals who fits the mission and vision of what HPRS is. Of course, everyone is welcome here, but some runners exhibit behaviors that really don’t mesh well with our ethos at all; or more simply put, those who are more aligned with what HPRS isn’t. I can tell you that I have never banned someone just because. Everyone who has been banned from HPRS have exhibited behaviors that:
- Publicly spread false rumors, slander, or libelous claims, about HPRS or its staff
- Publicly denigrated HPRS having never actually run in one of our races previously
- Despite our best efforts to correct a mistake on our end, the customer continues to email insulting emails that seek to only put us down rather than to move forward
- Instructed us how to run our business without first asking or appreciating how we want to run our business
- Provided feedback/feedforward in a way that is disrespectful, insulting, and/or unnecessary
- Lacked the personal accountability we seek in our customers
- Put HPRS staff, volunteers, or other participants at risk of injury or irreparable damages; including behaviors that almost caused loss of a permit to conduct our event(s) moving forward
- Were unbecoming of a member of our community
In 2021, we have implemented a HPRS Code of Conduct to our registration process online. You are now required to accept and adhere to our code of conduct before, during, and after HPRS events. You may not always agree with us, our policies, or how we do things; but we are still very much human beings who deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. It’s running. We’re not going to the moon, or to war. None of this should be difficult or confrontational. We seek to serve you to the best of our abilities, knowing full well that we’ll make mistakes along the way. Just as we would expect you to own your behaviors, we’ll gladly own ours and apologize when necessary. Work with us, instead of against us.
The code of conduct during registration reads as follows:
The two biggest rules we have: Don’t be a jerk, and no whining. Additionally, You agree to abide by the following code of conduct while at our event: You will be respectful to all other athletes at all times. You will be respectful, kind, and thankful to all volunteers. You will be respectful to HPRS Staff and Directors. You acknowledge that should you treat ANYONE poorly at this event, for any reason, you will be listed in the results as a DQ and banned for life from all future HPRS events.
HPRS Policy discussing this further states:
HPRS CODE OF CONDUCT:
The two biggest rules we have: Don’t be a jerk, and no whining. Additionally, You agree to abide by the following code of conduct before, during, and after our event: You will be respectful to all other athletes at all times. You will be respectful, kind, and thankful to all volunteers. You will be respectful to HPRS Staff and Directors. You acknowledge that should you for any reason treat ANYONE poorly at this event, or after, you will be listed in the results as a DQ and banned for life from all future HPRS events. You can have feedback, you have a right to address any issues that you feel warrant discussion; but this does not come with the right to be mean, nasty, slanderous on social media, or disrespectful. Like you, we’re human.
Anyone who is found to be posting false, defamatory, slanderous, libelous, rhetorical or any other negative information about HPRS, its staff or volunteers, on social media channels is subject to permanent banishment from our events. If you cannot give us the decency of a face to face cordial conversation, you lose the privilege to run with us. Thank you.
If we go back to the beginning of this discussion, the next time someone makes light of or jokes about their banishment, consider that they may indeed be displaying to you the very behaviors that got them banned in the first place. It’s often not funny, or something to make light of at all. So ask them what they did to get banned. See how honest and trustworthy that friend of yours really is. I bet they won’t answer “I admittedly was a jerk to the RD.” No one gets banned for no reason. We can all be the bigger person by admitting our flaws and faults. See if they’ll admit their wrongdoing, and if they don’t… take note of that.
What kind of people do you want in your immediate community? We’re pretty clear on who we want in ours. Just as the customer can fire a business they do business with, remember that the business can also fire you from the same. Don’t be a jerk. No whining. It really is that simple, and the best way to ensure you get to run. I wish I had done the same with Leadville, but I didn’t and I pay the price of doing business in the way I did. I own it and my contribution to it, right or wrong. Now let’s go for a run!