Previous | Next | 1999 Index | Newsletter Index
Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 1999 9:31 AM Subject: Battling over the peak story Hi all, Below is my letter to the Gazette concerning the “Battling over the mountain” piece that appeared in the Gazette: http://www.gazette.com/archive/99-08-23/spts2.html Many of you have sent me copies of the your letters — thanks! Some of your ideals and thoughts are new to me! Please remember to use the (e-mail address removed for www posting) address if you want your letters considered for print. I am told that the (e-mail address removed for www posting) address is not for the letters page. Further, writing or calling the author of the story will go no further than the author. Also if there is anyone who does not want this stuff in the Incline Club please let me know! I will be happy to send out separate Incline Club mailings without the “cause” to you. The club is not about the “cause” — the club is about running. Further the “cause” is not about me — the “cause” is about running. However the club has been around way longer than the “cause” so again I will gladly leave it out of your mails if you want. #################### Pikes has people peaked Concerning the story of my non participation of the Pikes Peak Marathon I would like to stress that my cause in not to get money but to get competition. Money is just a means to that end. It has always been my stance that if through my efforts money comes back (see below) to these races and I win it I will donate it to Friends of the Peak. I love the mountain and I love the race and I will run it for free. However I will not run it without competition and it is just a modern day reality that the best competition will not pay to come to the race, pay to enter, pay to stay in a hotel, pay to eat etc. so that they can take home a wooden trophy. The Triple Crown of Running did offer cash incentives in the Pikes Peak races from 1992-1995 and foreign athletes have been flown in at TCR expense. Further some top runners were let in as late as the night before the races. It was during this time that the races were the fastest ever! Through the mid ‘90s two other TCR events (Garden of the Gods 10 Mile and the Colorado Springs 10K Classic) offered significant prize money to the winners. It was during this time that some of the best in the world (Olympic Gold medal winner Gelindo Bordin, Pat Porter, Lorraine Moller) came to these once prestigious events. Given these facts it seems odd that the current organization would stand so high on the amateur athletic soapbox. It seems a crime that while they beat their “citizens only” drum participation in the TCR has nearly halved! Some conveniently forget that not only is the GOG 10 mile in decline but the TCR killed the 10K Classic and the Garden 10K Tune-up. Even worse is that while they claim to protect the recreational runner some would forget that the future runners of our sport were summarily brushed aside when the TCR also killed three kid’s fun runs! When one considers the track record of the current TCR I question if the recreational runners need protection by the TCR or from the TCR. Just how are the “Curtis Bolts of the community” protected by not having fast runners? Is it that they get to go back to Arizona and say they got 87th instead of 97th? That sounds more like out-come based marathoning. It is only through a system of increasingly “overbooking” the Pikes Peak races that the number of finishers has appeared to remain the same over the years. This year the “overbooking” of entries was significantly increased so don’t be too surprised if you hear that record numbers finished the peak races and therefore these were the most “successful” races to date. However a race should be more than a body count! I am simply trying to see that America’s Ultimate Challenge does not become America’s Ultimate Did-a-thon. Matt Carpenter Course record holder Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon. ############
Top | Previous | Next | 1999 Index | Newsletter Index