January 17, 2023

Trail Racing Takes Off -- Again

A report released by RunRepeat on December 10--"The State of Trail Running 2022"--shows trail running and racing surging again after COVID doldrums. The report includes trail racing participation from 1984 to 2022. Trail racing inched gradually upwards in the early 2000s, and soared in the 2010s before cratering during the pandemic. From a pandemic low, it rebounded fourfold in 2022. However, 2022 trail race participation is still 15% lower than 2019, according to this report.

Trail races are getting bigger, although lagging well behind road races. Trail racing today accounts for 15.8% of all race finishers. The distribution of races by distance in trail races skews toward longer races--50K trail races finishers have exceeded trail marathon finishers for the last three years. Of the 10 most popular road race distances, the average is 10.27 kilometers, versus 24.63 kilometers for trail races.

The database includes more than 15 million finishers from 116,947 races in 127 countries.

Another notable trend in trail racing is an uptick in prize money.. The 2022 Run Rabbit Run 100 dished out $75,000 in prize money and will do the same in 2023. The 2022 Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon offered $28,500 in total prize money.

Along with the increases in prize money and the visibility of trail racing as a professional sport have come concerns about performance-enhancing drug (PED) use. In Trail Runner Magazine, Brian Metzler discusses the "critical juncture" at which the sport of trail racing has arrived in regard to PEDs.

A more in-depth article on the state of trail running will be in the February issue of Road Race Management Newsletter.

Security Concerns Loom Large in Paris 2024 Planning

The French Court of Auditors made 15 recommendations to the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic organizing committee, highlighting concerns around a reliance on private security operators to protect the Games and risks over transport links.

Pierre Moscovici, the first president of the Court of Auditors, called the security of Paris 2024 a 'major challenge', and said internal security forces such as the police and army needed to be incorporated and paid for.

The opening ceremony poses a huge challenge to the event organizers, with 600,000 expected to attend along the river Seine, as athletes and delegations sail along the river.

Below, a video of the Olympic Marathon course shows it passing such major landmarks as Versailles and the Eiffel Tower, with the longest stretch of the course along the Seine.

Other Paris 2024 info: World Athletics qualification system can be viewed here; the track and field schedule appears here; and an overview of the Games provided by World Athletics appears here.

One interesting wrinkle in the Paris 2024 schedule is that the women's 400m hurdles rounds occur on the 4th, 6th, and 8th, and the 400m flat rounds on the 5th, 7th, and 9th. The final of the women's 4 x 400m relay falls on the 10th. Also, the mixed 4 x 400m relay is scheduled for the 3rd. All of which leaves open the possibility of four golds in the 2024 Games for American Sydney McLaughlin, who holds the women's 400m hurdles world record.

Appeals Court Rejects Lawsuit Challenging Connecticut Policy on Transgender Females Competing in Girls' High School Sports

In 2020, four cisgender (biologically female) girl high school students brought a lawsuit against the Connecticut Association of Schools for its policy that allowed transgender girls to compete against cisgender girls in high school sports. The cisgender girls claimed the state's policy requiring them to compete against two transgender sprinters deprived them of athletic opportunities. On December 16, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the lawsuit, affirming a lower court's decision.

Writing for the three-judge panel, U.S. Circuit Judge Denny Chin said that "far from being deprived of a 'chance to be champions,' the four plaintiffs all regularly competed in state track championships and on numerous occasions came in first."

Opinion: Court of Appeals Sets a Scientifically Dubious Precedent on Transgender Girls in High School Sport

(opinion by E-News editor)

In rejecting the suit brought by cisgender high school girls against the Connecticut policy on transgender girls in sport, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals has set a shaky precedent. It may come to haunt high school sports in Connecticut once the physical advantages of transgender girls become apparent in future competitions, as is extremely likely.

The Court's decision, discussed in the story above, flies in the face of current science. The politicization of the issue has unfortunately overshadowed the physical facts. Anecdotal evidence (e.g. "the four plaintiffs all regularly competed in state track championships and on numerous occasions came in first") should not be the basis for such consequential decisions when it contradicts science.

Here, we are referring to transgender girls who have undergone male puberty, which is the vast majority of cases. The science is pretty clear on their advantages against biological girls where performance depends on strength, power, and top speed, such as track sprints, middle distances, and most field events. That's because the legacy from puberty of larger heart, larger lungs, stronger bones, and muscle mass cannot be completely erased by lowering testosterone in the transgender athlete after puberty. For an explanation of the science, see the video presentation below by sports physiologist Ross Tucker. Note: the video is 42 minutes long.

The social and political as well as the scientific aspects of the issue were discussed in The Transgender Women Athletes' Dilemma, which appeared in the October issue of Road Race Management Newsletter. Other sources besides Ross Tucker are cited in that article.

Women Athletes Leaving Megabrands

For some women athletes, turning away from big-name contracts to contracts with niche names creates opportunities to benefit from more individualized resources and protections.

Allyson Felix managed to get Nike to revise its maternity leave policy in 2019, but it took a public outcry to seal the deal. That incident illustrated a power imbalance even between superstar athletes and megabrands. Switching to a lesser-known brand gives athletes more of a say, and gives brands a strong incentive to tailor their efforts to individuals.

P3R Launches MOVE Pass to Inspire People to Move All Year Long

P3R--the engine behind major road races and multiple other running activities in the Pittsburgh area--has introduced the MOVE Pass to incentivize year-round running and to build participation in its signature events. The pass is available only to the first 500 registrants and the deadline for entry is January 31st.

IN OTHER RUNNING NEWS

The 2022 Race Results Weekly Athlete Performance Database is now available. This plain text file (*.txt) is easily searchable for results of either events or individual athletes. NO SPECIAL SOFTWARE IS NEEDED. Just open the file in any text editor. The cost is $175, with immediate delivery by e-mail (file size 5MB). To order, please send an e-mail to Jane Monti at [email protected].

Sisson sizzles to half marathon AR in Houston's Aramco Half Marathon on January 15th. Timed in 1:06:52, Emily Sisson sliced 19 seconds off her own American record, also set in Houston a year ago. Sisson took 2nd overall, 24 seconds shy of race winner, Ethiopian Hiwott Gebrekidan (1:06:28). Other American women finishing in the top 10 overall were Molly Huddle (age 38!), 5th overall in 1:10:01; Erika Kemp (7th overall, 1:10:14), Lindsay Flanagan (8th, 1:10:20); Jenny Simpson (9th, 1:10:35); and Jessie Cardin (10th, 1:10:52). Together with Amber Zimmerman (11th, 1:10:55) and Amy Davis (12th, 1:10:58), nine American women broke 1:11:00. Moving from middle distance stardom into road racing over the last year-and-a-half, Simpson set a PB at age 36 and was philosophical about her placing 9th overall and 5th American, joking to Race Results Weekly that she was "not quite setting the world on fire . . . yet."

A group of Ethiopian athletes visit with families after two years of silence due to the Tigray War. Because of the Tigray War, some of Ethiopia's top runners were unable to see or communicate with their families in the Tigray region for more than two years. But last week, Derartu Tulu led a group of athletes to Mekelle, the region's capital. The group included Letesenbet Gidey, Gotytom Gebreslase, and Guday Tsegay. Tsegay didn't get to see her family because word of her visit didn't make it in time. Nevertheless, Tsegay said that being there still made her joyful, and she was able to speak with her family on the phone and hear that they were okay. She also told the paper that her husband, who coaches her, was arrested without cause, but he has since been released. 

For the latest-breaking news on road, track, and trail every day, check out Road Race Management's home page at https://www.rrm.com/

Road Race Management Longest Serving Race Director List

If you have directed your race for 5 or more years, you can join the club.

In conjunction with the celebration of 40 years of publishing Road Race Management Newsletter, the company launched a newly-reconfigured version of its Longest Serving Race Director Rankings. The listing, which debuted in 2019, will now allow any race director who has directed the same race for five years or more to be included by completing this easy-to-use form. The listings are searchable by a number of different criteria including race distance, country, state, and gender. Biographical data and photos of the directors will be listed if supplied.

Emails for updating listings were sent out around December 20. If you did not receive yours, please email [email protected].

Many of the updates have now been submitted through midyear of 2022. Click here to see the current rankings.