<\/b>Silverton, Colorado knows what it\u2019s like to lose a lottery.\u00a0 Its neighbor to the north, Ouray, has hot springs, which bring tourists and money.\u00a0 To the northwest there is Telluride, which has skiing and Californians and high property values.\u00a0 Silverton has a small railroad and a shrine to the miners who died in the hills.<\/p>\n
It is the county seat of San Juan County, but then it is also the only incorporated municipality.\u00a0 There\u2019s a ski slope, but it\u2019s no Telluride, whose lifts show up on Google Maps even at a low resolution.\u00a0 There used to be mining, but a series of disasters both economic and otherwise wiped that out, leaving little work for residents beyond a bit of tourism and highway maintenance.<\/p>\n
\nA bit of history from Wikipedia:<\/strong>
\nIn August 1873, George Howard and R.J. McNutt discovered the Sunnyside silver vein along Hurricane Peak. Gold was then discovered in 1882. The Sunnyside Mine<\/b> was shut down after the 1929 stock market crash<\/a>, but was acquired by Standard Metals Corp. in 1959, and reopened, finding gold in 1973 with the Little Mary vein. Half of Colorado’s gold production in the 1970s came from the Sunnyside. Disaster occurred on 4 June 1978, when the water from Lake Emma collapsed a mine shaft (when miners weren’t present,) and then traveled quickly through the tunnels, shooting out a portal along Cement Creek<\/a> with a force that toppled a 20-ton locomotive. The mine reopened after two years, but was acquired by Echo Bay Mines<\/a> in 1986, which operated the mine for another five years. The nearby Gold King mine breached and spilled into Cement Creek, causing the 2015 Gold King Mine waste water spill<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nBut Silverton has Hardrock.<\/p>\n
That name doesn\u2019t mean much to most people, but to ultramarathon runners it means everything.\u00a0 There are longer races<\/a>, including some in the same area.\u00a0 There are hotter races, like Badwater<\/a>.\u00a0 There are older races, like Western States<\/a>.\u00a0 There\u2019s even a race in Tennessee that\u2019s harder.\u00a0 But there is only one Hardrock.<\/p>\n
Dedicated to the miners who settled in the area and who built the trails and roads on which the race is run, Hardrock is a 100-mile loop with 33,000\u2019 of climbing and equal descent, at an average elevation above 11,000\u2019 and ranging to over 14,000\u2019, passing through the more prosperous Telluride and Ouray.\u00a0 The time cutoff of 48 hours is generous, but that\u2019s because runners are frequently held down in valleys to avoid the lightning strikes which come with regularity each afternoon.\u00a0 The race organizers are candid in predicting that their first fatality will probably be from a lightning strike, not any of the other hazards on the course.\u00a0 A few years back, Adam Campbell was struck and it blew up his headlamp.\u00a0 He went on to finish.\u00a0 That\u2019s what a Hardrocker is like.<\/p>\n
When hearing the description, most people say \u201cThat ain\u2019t for me.\u201d\u00a0 And they are right.\u00a0 This race is not for you.<\/p>\n
But ultrarunners strive to do things that others say they can\u2019t.\u00a0 Each year there are only 145 slots, of which 45 are allocated to new runners.\u00a0 This year 1,726 people were vying for those 45 slots, including yours truly.\u00a0 Your odds increase exponentially each year, so after five years of waiting I had 16 tickets in the lottery, giving me a 9% chance of getting in.\u00a0 Even the one person who had waited eight years had roughly the chance of a coin toss (54%).<\/p>\n
The odds definitely say that this race is not for you.<\/p>\n
Last January an attorney in Wyoming started making a stink via an online complaint in a web forum, followed by threats of a\u00a0lawsuit against Hardrock\u2019s lottery, claiming it is unfair because they charge a nonrefundable $10 fee to enter, which was instituted in an effort to keep applications down, assuring applicants had \u201cskin in the game.\u201d \u00a0 It also claimed the race directors were not 100% clear that five of the entrants could be picked by the race director.\u00a0 Everyone close to the race knew this, but it wasn\u2019t written out on the website until this year.<\/p>\n
\nFrom the \u201cFix Hardrock Now\u201d site:<\/b> This year over 1700\u00a0members of the public\u00a0who have never run the race competed for only 42 spots.\u00a0 To earn the right to compete for a miniscule chance in the lottery, these 1700 people had to complete a separate, very difficult 100 mile race and pay non-refundable fees totaling over $17,000.\u00a0 These runners have spent years of their lives trying to qualify and stay qualified for the Hardrock lottery,\u00a0and with all the blood, sweat and tears expended, it is inexcusable for the Hardrock 100 to act with less than the utmost integrity.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
A year and a half ago I got on the wait list and I flew to Colorado on the narrow chance I might get in, bubbling up to the fourth position the night before the start.\u00a0 That race was not for me.<\/p>\n
Instead I ended up pacing a friend in the second half, getting a feel for the race.\u00a0 From the very start there was a reverence for those to whom the race is dedicated \u2013 the miners.\u00a0 As we climbed up over the passes there were countless little holes in the cliff faces with rubble pouring out, each likely the result of the better part of a man\u2019s working life beating one\u2019s way with hope into a rock trying to find something worth scratching out an existence.\u00a0 You could see lifetimes worth of work up there \u2013 mostly ending in failure, some in death.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what it\u2019s really like to lose a lottery.\u00a0 That\u2019s what blood, sweat and tears really look like, and those are the people Hardrock is for.\u00a0 This race is not for you.<\/p>\n
So maybe grow a up and realize that not all of life is fair, and no matter how much you give, you might not receive anything for it.\u00a0 Even if you succeed in your \u201cclass action\u201d you\u2019ll just get your ten bucks back and take money away from the race, and from the charity to which the money is given.\u00a0 (See: one-room schoolhouse in Silverton the played out mining town.)<\/p>\n