Daily News, Tue, Oct 14

The world’s toughest list.

This sounds like an awesome format. Twenty one mile trail race with decent vert, and the back half of the field gets cut every six miles. Giddy up!

It’s 90 in California, and snowy on the trails in Glacier Peak Wilderness in Washington.

I didn’t realize what a great race Le Grizz is for first timers. 27 first timers and 26 finished.

We give a sneak peek and review the Ultimate Direction Fastpack 30. If you’re into fastpacking but just can’t seem to get your gear to fit, this may be the pack for you. Release date: Jan ’15.

Yvette Joy Liebesman volunteered for the Rock n Roll Marathon and now want to get paid, so she’s filed a class action suit. Ugh.

This fancy beer foamer will not be available on URP any time soon.

Anton’s had a fun few weeks in Colorado.

…and a new short film about Anton you’re gonna want to watch.

I think a spring running trip to Big Sur is in order.

More about Sarah’s time at Grand to Grand with some killer pictures. This really does look like a lot of fun (and hard work.)

This guy is a competitive eater and ultrarunner. I’d love to see him at an aid station.

One of my favorite (and most elusive) wild animals out there. This hiker snapped a rare pic in Washington.

…speaking of wild animals, this poor dude got attacked by a grizzly, then shot by his hunting partner.

Science: Science?

Qualities of a skilled ultramarathon coach. I’m always shocked at the amount of people who are coached, as it’s something I’ve never considered.

Matt Flaherty’s report from Patagonia.

Why are Americans so obsessed with extreme fitness?

Meghan Kennihan says:

October 14, 2014 at 6:44 am

Is it sad that I immediately tried to look up the Epic Ladder 50K before reading on that it was a joke? I would seriously do that 😉

Ken says:

October 14, 2014 at 9:36 am

Beer foamer? That is the most ridiculous thing I have seen today.

Paul says:

October 14, 2014 at 10:12 am

It is an interesting lawsuit against Rock n Roll series. The person does have a point in the lawsuit after reading it. It seems rock n roll is trying to work the system.

Meghan Kennihan says:

October 14, 2014 at 1:17 pm

I couldn’t read the whole thing… I can’t get through lawyer speak… what point did she have?

1. Mike D says:
  
  October 14, 2014 at 1:43 pm
  
  Basically, she is saying that Competitor is circumventing having to pay wages as a for-profit by trying to have people volunteer on behalf of charities who themselves have to pay money to Competitor to be an official charity.
  
Brent says:

October 14, 2014 at 1:41 pm

Major League Baseball and the other ‘Big Players’ also got in trouble for the same issues of ‘volunteers/unpaid interns’ vs. ‘workers’ in 2013.

It has since trickled down to the rest of the event world. It is definitely shifty the way that Competitor handles their ‘volunteers’. But you are allowed to work through charities to acquire unpaid volunteers. It is a fine line, in that if you are requiring hours of work similar to a paid staff member, you are requiring the volunteer to provide equipment in order to complete their tasks, and there is no charitable benefit, they will need to be compensated somehow (at least minimum wage). This can be through the event providing a hotel room, swag, meals. As long as it is equal to the minimum wage.

Interested to see how everything shakes out. There will definitely need to be decision made that can help better define a ‘volunteer’ as opposed to a ‘worker’ that needs to be compensated.

IMHO, as long as your volunteer-ship benefits a charity, you should not be paid. Competitor is in the wrong for sure in this situation.

– B

October 14, 2014 at 1:35 pm

The lawsuit is saying that rock n roll is set up as a non profit organization to help charities, but rock n roll charges charities it promotes at the races through money in form of paying for x numbers of runner to run and free volunteers. Some of the volunteers even have to use their own gear such as their own cell phone and bikes for those riding along with the lead runners. With that she is saying that rock n roll is exploiting charities for free labor and also making a profit off of them for making them pay to be apart of it, and therefore rock n roll should not be a non profit organization where they can get around tax codes and make more money in the long run. Also they need to compensate the volunteers. It’s somewhat similar to the NFL being set up as a nonprofit as well

Arun says:

October 14, 2014 at 5:23 pm

Actually, the lawsuit correctly points out that Competitor Group is very much a FOR-profit company. Interning and volunteering at for-profit companies is very complicated and troublesome — in fact, for-profit companies are not supposed to hire volunteers at all, period. (Internships are a different legal status.) Basically, CGI is using thousands of people as free labor. It will be interesting to see how this shakes out.

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