Ultramarathon Daily News | Fri, Feb 26

Legendary adventurer Aleksander Doba dies at the summit of Kilamanjaro. If you’re not familiar with this man, check him out.

Yesterday I wrote about a high school track meet taking place in a parking lot, and today, an ultramarathon held in a shopping center in the UK, circa 1990. Yep, Eleanor Adams, Don Ritchie, Roy Pirrung and more, all running laps in a mall for 24 hours.

Gary Robbins sets up another trail running scavenger hunt for this Spring. Love this idea!

Semi-Rad: I hate running and you can too.

Stephanie Case is awarded a Canadian Meritorious Service Award for her work with Free to Run. Huge congratulations to Stephanie and the organization. (Here’s our last interview with Stephanie. Definitely give it a listen.)

I don’t listen to running podcasts, but I plugged this one in yesterday as it covers a topic I’m keenly interested in. (I believe you have to subscribe to get this episode.)
Jason Koop’s guest was Emma Hilton, a PhD from the UK who studies Developmental Biology and has written a paper on transgender athletes. Jason and Emma both did a great job navigating sensitive waters with respect, speaking honestly about the topic, and not getting into the scientific weeds. Very well done from a podcasting and listener perspective.
In terms of the message, hers was quite clear: Regardless of T levels or time, trans women will always have an advantage over biological women and in most sporting scenarios, should not compete against one another. Any drop in testosterone will not offset the natural male advantage.
Aside from the common sense and science of it all, another takeaway for me was how we need race directors to have clear policies set forth. Just as I wrote six years ago with regards to doping, it’s incumbent for RDs to make clear whether or not trans athletes (self ID’d or otherwise) compete against their gender or sex. Maybe for all athletes, maybe just for elites/podiums, but we need transparency (no pun intended.) Yes, it’s uncomfortable, and yes, you might get blowback from social media, but who else is going to ensure the playing field is level?
Big kudos to Koop for discussing this important topic.

Trailrunner/Bracy: Athlete identity and self worth. Good read about goals, our identities, and letting go if sh*t hits the fan.

Beer: Brewers Association announces guidelines for four new styles of beer and I’ve only tried one of them.

Wired: How an old school runner learned to love virtual races. And on that note, I’m hoping we’re close to seeing an end to virtual races.

Happy Friday everyone. I’ve got some luscious springtime trails and rivers to navigate this weekend. You?

3 Responses to "Ultramarathon Daily News | Fri, Feb 26"

Jimmy A says:

February 26, 2021 at 3:34 pm

Hi Eric, I had a quick question about your thoughts on the Koop Cast (you replied to a tweet earlier, it seemed like that thread had a lot of people that weren’t ultrarunners). I want to start by saying I am genuinely trying to not be combative or bothersome, I’m just curious of your opinion and I know you’ll give a straight answer of what you think.

In the podcast they undoubtedly talked more about elite level competition, and concluded there is no fair comparison, but they didn’t discuss the average mid or back of the pack ultrarunner. I’m wondering whether you think the same rules should apply for a non-competitive trans runner? If their placement is inconsequential to rankings or winning, does it really matter? I feel like this is especially true for ultrarunning, where people often are competing against time, distance, or themselves. When my female friend got 48th at her last ultra, she wasn’t worried about which men or women beat her, and I feel like that’s a central theme of our sport. So if a transwoman is finishing races below top 3 or 5 or 10 (whatever number is appropriate for the race size) is it worth caring? I would guess there have been trans runners that crossed the finish line, were celebrated just like any other runner, and no one thought twice about what category they should be placed in on Ultrasignup.

This isn’t to say that there should be different policies for transwomen winning races. I haven’t heard of that being an issue in ultras (it is in other sports I have learned recently) and maybe there should be a different discussion for that.

Why does this all matter though? I think the argument often made of “transwomen shouldn’t race against women” should be cut down and qualified to “transwomen shouldn’t win against women” (not saying I agree with that necessarily, but like I mentioned, that’s a different conversation). This way, transwomen feel like they are welcomed at races, the community is more inclusive, AND biological women aren’t competing against potentially unfair competition. I feel like this angle on the issue would also lead to less combative conversations.

Again, I really don’t want to come off as annoying or being a dick. I just appreciate how you always want discourse instead of name calling, and I hope this was presented in a level-headed way. I’m excited to hear your thoughts. And if it turns out I completely read the ultra scene wrong, I would love to be educated, I am always trying to learn.

Reply
1. eric schranz says:
  
  February 27, 2021 at 6:12 am
  
  Hi Jimmy,
  
  I think it’s a fair question, and yes, Koop’s guest wasn’t as clear when discussing mid packers as she was with elites, but IIRC that really seemed to be because her study/paper focused on elite athletes. For the sake of my argument here, I’ll assume that midpack trans women will have a similar advantage as elite women.
  
  When we assume that no one really cares if a transwoman is running midpack, that’s discounting all the people going out after AG wins, and yes, there are a lot of those people out there. The playing field is still uneven, so I don’t think that’s a good argument. Sounds the same as “no one will care if I’m doping, I’m just a mid packer.”
  
  As I wrote about Tues (?), the other issue is that of trans athletes who “self identify” meaning they’ve gone though zero medical intervention. Many in the trans community believe “trans women are women, period” and should be allowed to compete. That’s something I reject completely.
  
  The easy answer to me? A third choice. Mens race, women’s race, trans race. It’s fair, it’d be inclusive, and it would actually give everyone a chance to focus a bit more on the trans athletes and celebrate their wins.
  
  Thanks for the comments.
  
  Reply
Ellie says:

February 28, 2021 at 7:12 am

Thanks for linking to Eleanor Adams! I always enjoy reading about other runners who share my name. The podcast with Koop was very informative as well.

Reply

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