James Rainey has written over at the L.A. Times about the Badwater Ultramarathon move. From the article:
Athletes lament the relocation of ‘the toughest foot race in the world’ pending a safety review by the National Park Service.
For 27 straight summers, all that stood between runners and completion of the Badwater Ultramarathon was 135 miles of asphalt, a 13,000-foot elevation gain and late July temperatures that soared to 120 degrees and above.
They called it “the toughest foot race in the world.” And not too many people argued.
But this summer, the race from the depths of Death Valley to the shoulders of Mt. Whitney has been moved, while the National Park Service conducts a “safety assessment” of the run and other athletic events. Race organizers have reconfigured one of the marquee competitions in ultra-distance running and moved it to an alternate course that will criss-cross the Owens Valley, dozens of miles to the west.
The move away from Death Valley National Park and the namesake Badwater Basin has stunned the close-knit family of ultra runners and triggered complaints to the Park Service and Interior Department. Some accuse the government of a “nanny state” overreach.
“It’s a disaster,” said five-time Badwater competitor Shannon Farar-Griefer, who said the change would be tantamount to moving the Tour de France finish off the Champs-Elysees. “This is the granddaddy, the premier event. And it’s in one of the greatest places in the world — a place to see where your body can go and where your mind can go.”
Inyo County officials and others who support the race say they don’t object to the safety review of the stomach-churning, shoe-burning odyssey, which traditionally begins at the lowest point in the U.S., finishes on the slopes of the highest peak in the Lower 48 and has a field limited to 100 men and women.
But backers of the run question why the new superintendent of Death Valley National Park couldn’t have conducted the safety review in conjunction with the July 21 run and other events, like the Furnace Creek 508. That is the landmark bicycle ride that for 25 years has taken cyclists through Death Valley, on a 508-mile route that begins in Santa Clarita and ends in Twentynine Palms.
You can read the rest of the article HERE.
You can find out more about the Badwater Ultramarathon HERE.