The lottery arms race
Every big hundred has more applicants than places. The way each one breaks the tie says a lot about what the race values.
Section
Commentary
Lotteries, trademarks, doping, drink, and who gets to take part.
Not everything here is an interview or a round-up. Every so often something in the sport needed arguing about at length: a lottery that looked unfair, a trademark notice that read as a threat, a doping conversation that never turned into policy, a drinking culture that suits most people and excludes some.
They have aged unevenly. A few of the arguments were settled. Most were not, and are still being had in the same words.
2026
Deferral, transfer or nothing: when an injury takes the start line
Whether a place can roll over, change hands or earn a refund depends entirely on the race. The flights and the room booked around it answer to no race policy at all.
2018
A year without a beer: what happens when you take the drink out of running culture
The finish-line beer is not really about beer, which is exactly the problem.
Getting kids on the trails, and why the sport keeps failing to
Soccer starts at four. Gymnastics starts at three. Running is still handed out as a punishment in PE.
2016
The Hardrock lottery complaint: good points or sour grapes?
It was going to happen eventually. The surprise is that it took this long.
2013
The Grand Slam of Ultrarunning, and the day it started sending legal warnings
What happens when an informal bragging right turns out to be a registered mark.