By HPRS Race Director John Lacroix
Last week it was announced that The UTMB Series of races has partnered with Ironman. From what is understood of the deal, UTMB is still the majority stakeholder of their series, with Ironman now coming in as a minority stakeholder. Starting in 2022, a new series of International races co-produced by the new partners will be known as The UTMB World Series, replacing the Ultra-Trail World Tour. The series will culminate at its championship race, UTMB itself.
Another piece of this news is that UTWT isn’t the only thing being replaced, but so is The International Trail Running Association (ITRA) as the overseer of the points system for UTMB qualification, even though the qualification system will remain in place. All combined this is big news that has reverberated across the world’s trail running community; with the loudest reactions coming from those of us in North America.
The Human Potential Running Series has played host to UTMB qualifying events since 2015. Within North America, we have proudly hosted the second most UTMB qualifiers stateside behind only Aravaipa Running in Arizona. In 2021 we’ll host 13 races that serve as UTMB Qualifiers in our 7th year of doing so. As a result of Ironman partnering with UTMB, this will be our last year hosting UTMB Qualifiers as HPRS announces our withdrawal of support of UTMB events.
DISCUSSION
I created The Human Potential Running Series in 2014. At the time, my main reason for doing so was to fight back against the commercialization of our sport. I started running Ultras out East, where the sport is in many ways far different than it is here in the West. Upon moving to Colorado in 2011, I was shocked by those differences and I struggled to find a series locally that fit the “product” of ultra that I was used to.
I wanted a product that focused primarily on community… not the race, and not the money. Anytime I shared an opinion against corporate greed, or commercialization being the direction of our sport, it was met loudly with Coloradoans telling me, “If you don’t like how they do it, make your own!” HPRS was born out of this fire, and even though we’ve evolved and settled into our own identity these last 7 years, one thing remains true: HPRS STANDS AGAINST THE CONTINUED CORPORATE INFILTRATION OF OUR SPORT
It was 2017 when The Hardrock 100-Mile Endurance Run and a small group of Hardrock Qualifying events, wrote an open letter to UTMB denouncing their move to bring ITRA into the process of determining qualifiers for the UTMB event. I wrote a rebuttal to Hardrock and the others, which was my honest response to the discussion being had at the time. I want to start out by saying that my decision to withdraw HPRS as a home of qualifiers for UTMB, does not in any way offer support of, or agreement towards, the letter written by Hardrock 4-years ago. I proudly stand by my perspective on their arguments now as I did then. Ironman entering the fold is much worse than paying $150 a year to be a qualifying event. This has the potential to change the entire course of trail and ultra-running forever… Ironman/UTMB and Spartan… head-to-head.
In February 2020, just before the Covid-19 Pandemic, I recorded Ultra Stories Episode #87 titled “What Happens When Spartan Buys UTMB?” I’ll admit there being a sigh of relief in knowing it wasn’t Spartan who bought UTMB, and I’ll also admit that Ironman coming in is far worse for our sport. Compared to the arguments made by Hardrock and others 4 years ago, this is a much bigger game changer, and further launches our sport into commercialization.
In 2010 it was announced that Lifetime Fitness had purchased the Leadville Race Series from Ken Chlouber. There was no shortage of opinions about that transaction, and of those of us who voiced our concerns and predictions for what we felt would likely transpire in the years that followed, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who was wrong. With a focus on the bottom line, Lifetime hosted the largest field in Leadville’s history in 2013, which contributed to several issues that caused the ultimate degradation of a once “holy” event.
I mention all of this because the opinions and speculation surrounding the Ironman/UTMB partnership are a plenty, and I’m willing to bet that most of the speculation will come to fruition. Those of us who have spent a great length of time in this sport over the last 20-years could provide you a history lesson about the short rise, and abrupt falls, of the corporations that came before, such as Montrail and The North Face to name two.
In our present day in age, you could look at how Spartan hosts their events and see the discernable differences between their brand of trail and Ultra, versus the brand of trail and ultra many of us fell in love with long ago. The price is high, and you’re nickel and dimed for everything from parking, to crews, to spectators, to VIP packages costing hundreds; not to mention that these corporations have all over-loaded participant numbers in a sport that typically celebrates participant fields in the low hundreds. These corporations have a history of abusing the resource we’re all been charged with caring for and about, and all because every runner adds to the event’s profit margins. It is hard to make community the focus of a series when its participants are just bib numbers.
As many events return in 2021, post pandemic, we’re already seeing several race series bumping their entry fees $30-$40 above last year’s fees. Some will say that this makes sense considering some of these RD’s need to make up for revenue short falls because of the pandemic. Others, like myself, will tell you that it is not the runner’s responsibility to help an event recover from fiscal irresponsibility; nor is there an actual reason for entry fees to rise that much. We all know that most RDs had, and have, a no refunds policy, pocketing your money even when a race wasn’t held. Many RDs issued full or partial credits and deferrals to this year, and what happened with your money in the meantime is obviously not your problem. Simply put, some races are taking advantage of the circumstances of our world and using Covid as an excuse for price gouging entry fees.
Time and again, I have voiced concerns about the direction of our sport in focusing on the effects of continued commercialization. If a 100-Mile ultra starts charging $400 for entry, and you pay it, you in effect help drive the cost of entry even higher. That $400 entry fee increases the average fee for the distance region wide, and in turn gives other races permission to charge that much as well. Why? Because you’ll pay it. The problem is that this highlights privilege. It does not promote inclusivity or accessibility, it does what many of us have argued Ironman has done all along; Provides a sport for the rich to enjoy while the rag taggers have to dig for scraps.
It is speculated that Ironman has partnered with UTMB because UTMB doesn’t understand the trail running world in North America. To them we’re like “the wild west.” There’s no government body or universal way of doing things. There’s a lawlessness here. Obtaining permits is not easy, and land manager regulations are not fruitful towards the thousands of runners on courses that Europeans are used to. Keep in mind that our oldest 100-miler, Western States, still only allows 360ish runners ever year. If you want to create an international series, you need someone who understands and can navigate the landscape in the places you’re not established. Enter Ironman…
A few years ago it was reported that Ironman was attempting to purchase the Breck Epic mountain bike race here in Breckenridge, CO. Ironman and current event organizers met with local land managers such as the towns, counties and Forest Service Districts that the event transpires in. The purpose of those meetings was for Ironman to sniff out the viability of their plans; to make the event longer in duration, and to add a few thousand more bikers to the participant cap. Not knowing and understanding how land management works, how much damage thousands of bikers over many days would do to the resource, it’s no secret why Ironman was told “Not happening” on all counts. The deal fell through, and Ironman never bought the Breck Epic. Stop and think about that for a second. When faced with the reality that they weren’t going to be able to capitalize on their plans for increasing their profit margin, they bailed.
Yet here they are teaming up with UTMB, and we all know that the goal is to host trail races in North America that serve as qualifying events in the UTMB World Series. Those events will cost a premium point of entry. Those events will play host to as many runners as possible. Ironman/UTMB is going to control the supply and demand for their events, and that supply and demand will ultimately mean a higher price tag. Whether you choose to accept it or not, many race directors in our sport will capitalize on this reality by also raising their fees. It’s happened before…
Where? You don’t have to look far. Look at the small list of events that serve as qualifiers for The Hardrock 100, and this is where I feel their stance tends to be hypocritical. The politics behind the scenes at Hardrock determines which races get to serve as qualifiers for their event. I hate to break it to ya, but it really does come down to who is willing to wash their feet the most to be awarded the prestigious honor. Once a race becomes a Hardrock Qualifier, the price of entry gets jacked up higher. Why? The supply of Hardrock Qualifiers is low, while the demand is high. So, the price of entry reflects the reality of that supply and demand.
Look at The Western States 100. They choose qualifiers based on number of finishers in a given event. The qualifying race list for their event is the list of the top 100-Mile and 100k events by number of finishers, PERIOD. You’ll pay upwards of $500 to run the Javelina 100 in Arizona, mainly because it’s a Western States Qualifier, and they know you’ll pay it due to that one simple fact. Supply and demand. Finishing Javelina or Rocky Raccoon does not at all signify that you “qualify” to take on the monster that is Western States. It only says that you finished two of the most populous 100-mile races in the Country and were willing to pay the fees to do so.
Both Western States and Hardrock are pulling their own UTMB and many of you refuse to see it as truth. These two races hold all the power over the quick success of, or long struggle, of countless 100-mile and 100k events in our country. They determine who the premium events are by adding them to their lists, and those races now inherently have a leg up on their competition simply because they serve as qualifiers for WS and HR.
Those who are not WS and HR qualifiers, will always be playing from behind. If these two entities truly cared about our ultra community as they say they do.. don’t you think they’d do more to spread the wealth, and the love, to a variety of races across the country from year to year? Instead, they are our own UTMB. They’re setting the market, they control the supply and demand, and they don’t care what happens from there. Who pays? YOU DO.
HPRS is proudly PEOPLE OVER PROFIT. Despite being Colorado’s largest race series, and hosting races in Arkansas and California as well, we are not a corporation who focuses solely on the bottom line. We self-cap our events at 200-300 runners total, regardless of how many we could host. Our goal isn’t to sell out every race, it’s to host each race for those who want to be here. You are more than a bib number here. We take great pride in getting to know our runners and serving them as if they’re our friends, not our customers. We have always set our entry fees at or below the industry average for each distance; because we want a sport that is accessible regardless of one’s socio-economic status. We don’t partner with brands simply because the price is right, we partner with brands who will give back to our runners… ALL of our runners.
The cost of entry is already rising. Ironman coming in and competing head-to-head with Spartan is just the next step in the direction our sport is ultimately taking. It’s up to all of us to send a clear message to these corporations about who we are and who we want to be as a sport. People have long said, “You vote with your wallet.” So how will you vote? HPRS chooses not to support anything Ironman is involved in, and in this case that includes UTMB. We’ll honor our qualifiers this year, as we know some of you have registered due to them being UTMB qualifiers. In 2022 and beyond, we’re staying with our roots and where it all began.