Received an** **e-mail today from Powerman Alabama that due to a survey they have “removed the mountain from the run.”
Pertinent part of the e-mail stated: “**Notes based on survey responses last year and the most recent survey: **1. Racers heavily voted for Powerman to stay long distance at 10k/60k/10k. We listened, you GOT IT!; 2. Racers heavily voted for Double Oak Duathlon to be 5k/20k/2.5k. We listened, you GOT IT!; 3. Many racers said in so many words “we like the Powerman challenge, but we could live without climbing that darn mountain on the run.” We listened and we are taking that OUT of the course.The adjusted run courses will be announced asap, but count on a challenging course but NO mountain climbing!; 4. The bike course will remain the same due to our limitations for suitable roads in that area…so once again look for a one loop course for Double Oak and three loops for Powerman like the past two years.”
What a bunch of BS. So an iconic, difficult event makes itself a vanilla event because they took a survey and some people said “Waaaah, it was too hard.” Whatever.
Phil
Though I am not racing PMA this year, I am saddened. Getting up that hill without walking (or succumbing to the raging quad cramps) during the second 10k was an experience I call on to motivate me when things get tough in training. I guess people want to go fast.
All that said, good riddance; that hill truly was a b1tch!
The bike is not that hard (although harder than the elevation profile looks) so the run was the only thing that made this a tough race. When Dave Slavinski says that hill is hard enough to make you “cry for momma” http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...man%20momma;#3606451
you know you are talking about a tough hill (of course instead of crying for Momma, Dave Slavinski was destroying the entire field, but I was crying for momma!) Just makes me sad to see such a wimp-out from what was really a fun race. Would be like St. Croix saying “the Beast is too hard so next year we’ll replace it with a couple of rollers and everyone will be a lot faster.” My single favorite moment of my 2011 racing season was duking it out on that mountain during the second run with some other AGers.
I am still waiting for that email from the Xterra folks saying they took the 2-3 hills out of the SE championship course. I am terrible at running hills, but when I have to pull myself up via trees it is kind of silly.
I assume that Powerman course is not the same as the Xterra course…did they make you run up the backside of the mountain past the big parking lot?
Do you own or volunteer for any races? Ditto what TH stated. This is a much tougher business than you think. After almost 20 years; each new race team captain we train comes away in shock after they survive race week set-up and race day stress. I have always said; racing/finishing is much easier than operating an event.
So lighten up on the TM staff and owners unless you plan for spend 75 hours on race week helping them.
The best reason to go back to Powerman AL is for the great course and it is very disappointing that Team Magic is bowing to the lowest common denominator and making it easier. You may as well make the bike course shorter too since it is a challenge. God-forbid there are any challenging multisport events…guess we have to start doing Tough Mudder events for a challenge.
Really? I knew I was doing something wrong at AmZof.
Not - the “masses” can kiss our asses.
I don’t think my boyos over in Scotland give a wee dram for the masses either.
The harder, the better.
Really? I knew I was doing something wrong at AmZof.
Not - the “masses” can kiss our asses.
I don’t think my boyos over in Scotland give a wee dram for the masses either.
The harder, the better.
Yeah, exactly. There’s no demand whatsoever for extreme races and hard courses. That’s why SavageMan has sold out for 4 straight years and is 40% of the way there for 2012 already with registration only open for 8 hours so far.
Having been part of this RD thing for 5 years now, it actually seem to me that the last few years has brought more of a trend towards harder, honest races, at least at the 70.3 distance. And, that’s a good thing. Maybe crazy extreme like AmZof and SavageMan cater to a limited (but still healthy) market, but new events seem to be more along the lines of hilly courses like Syracuse, Poconos, Vegas and fewer along the lines of Draftwater or Eagleman.
Yeah, exactly. There’s no demand whatsoever for extreme races and hard courses. That’s why SavageMan has sold out for 4 straight years and is 40% of the way there for 2012 already with registration only open for 8 hours so far.
“extreme” and hardcore is in the eye of the beholder. Some people will look at you like you have a purple dildo on your forehead when you tell them you ran a marathon. To them, running 26.2 miles is extreme.
