The Significance of the Frontier in American Ultrarunning. Motivated by the 1890 census that stated there was not a distinct frontier line any longer, Fredrick Jackson Turner wrote and delivered his thesis “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” in 1893.  In one reading in one afternoon, one man essentially closed the frontier and, further, blurred the meaning of “frontier” and civilization and called into question the ... Read More

Tim:  What a year of racing so far. American ultrarunning has experienced globalization in its biggest events and narrow perceptions have been peeled wide open. It all seemingly began with Salomon surging to a convincing men’s and women’s sweep at last year’s North Face Endurance Challenge Championship in San Francisco, thus earning the $20,000 prize and introducing a significant change in the landscape of US ultras. That spark ... Read More

There was a good assortment of ultra races over the weekend.  From the soft, rolling hills in the Bay Area of California, to undulating and abruptly jagged desert trails in Moab, Utah, to ankle crushing rock-lined, steep descents of Virginia, there was variety in both the race terrain and the weather accompanying the events.  The weather played the biggest role at the Slickrock 100 (50 mile and 50k), ... Read More

This week we began our look at this weekend’s upcoming events on the East Coast with our preview of the Grindstone 100 in Virginia.  Then we traveled to Moab, Utah for a preview of the inaugural running of the Slickrock 100.  Today we finish this week’s race previews in Lake Chabot, California with the Dick Collins Firetrails 50 miler.  The Firetrails 50 is a popular race that sells ... Read More

The growth of ultrarunning means so many things.  One of the benefits is the addition of new race events.  The Slickrock 100 kicks off its first year this Saturday at 7AM mountain standard time.  It will offer three race distances of 50k, 50 mile, and 100 mile.  Aaron and Jenna Kissler have done a fine job so far with a solid event website, meaningful updates, and challenging course ... Read More