Lifetime has already ensured that corporate executives of companies with > $1 million in revenue can buy their way in, had a controversial (well, among maybe a few dozen people in the world) incident last year in which certain people received special treatment in allowing for outside aid and cutoff times, and briefly offered pre-paid post-race IV bags (before pulling due to criticism).
So I really enjoyed the Leadville marketing survey, which was all demographics (income, etc.), spending (races) and nothing about training, performance, etc. The best part, though, is the jobs: 5 out of 7 listed being management (and the other two being important but additional peripheral meta-jobs)...with distinctions between President and just Vice President, dontcha know.
Medical researcher? Doctor? Lawyer? Teacher? Engineer, IT? Fireman, paramedic, police? Artist of any kind? We're all lumped together under "Other." I can't recall a survey that didn't at least have "Education" or "Civil Service" or "Military" or other large swaths of the population. But, it's their survey, and I do get whom they're targeting -- just not what I look for in a race.
"Others" unite!
Quit trying to play the poor card, I'm still making you buy me that beer after Salida.
ReplyDeleteSpoken like a true "C-Suite" executive!
ReplyDeleteHmm, I can only think of one "C" word right now, which judging by the behavior of their exec, is about right.
ReplyDeleteI don't see Runner Poet or Beer Critic in the list.
The mass effect (in the medical sense) of the changes at Leadville are a major reason why I have no desire to ever run that race again. There are so many other good races to choose from.
ReplyDeleteWhat Competitor is to marathons, Lifetime is to ultras.
ReplyDeleteWow. Did you have to click "Underprivileged Front-Range Riff-Raff/Generic Schmuck ?"
ReplyDeleteWhen ultra goes elitist ... it's time to kick some ass in the 1 Mile, instead !
Competitor/RnR races aren't my favourite scene, either -- except occasionally. So I'm glad they're out there, but I'm glad there are alternatives.
ReplyDeleteLifetime seems to be transparent about making a (bigger) buck. That's their prerogative, they still do some cool stuff (in the race and elsewhere), and it's still worth doing the race...but Pbville is unique among the big ones in specifically targeting rich people, and being very obvious about it.
As for other ultras, WS100 is quite expensive, but I they have a non-profit/research arm that's partially funded by that. That's cool. I feel like they're trying to balance competition and openness (lottery) with the constraints of popularity and a smaller field.
So many other options out West that I haven't even experienced yet.
Lean Horse, as a few of you know, really targets a solid race, from beginners on up, and really nails it. The Quad Rock guys are consistently concerned with how to make the best race possible for the runners -- literally trying to capture the best aspects of all other races and putting it into one -- and it's looking pretty good.