Media mixed on 100-mile race
Ultramarathon sees biggest crowd ever, but lacks national spotlight
By: Ryan Sabalow, Journal Staff Writer
Monday, June 27, 2005 11:37 PM PDT
Western States runner Tera Dube washes down her face with a sponge
Saturday at an aid station along the 100-mile trail. Flashbulbs popped
Saturday night when Western States Endurance Run winner Scott Jurek
entered Placer High School and dropped and rolled across the finish
line seven times to symbolize each of his consecutive wins.
But a search of the Seattle Times Web site, the hometown newspaper of
the 31-year-old physical therapist, had nary a mention of his
performance over the weekend.
Such was the case for the Charlotte Observer, the largest newspaper
nearest to female winner Annette Bednosky's hometown of Jefferson, N.C.
Although race officials say this year's Western States run had a record
number of spectators in attendance - parking spaces were scarce around
Placer High's Le Febvre Stadium and a healthy sized crowd cheered for
Jurek Saturday night - it didn't seem as if Auburn's claim as the
Endurance Capital of the World had as much global appeal as its motto
suggests.
Compared to the Super Bowl, the Indianapolis 500 or the Tour de France,
the media spotlight on the race's 317 finishing runners was almost as
dark as the nighttime sky.
Only a handful of local media photographers, television news crews and
print journalists were at the finish line, as were crews from Outside
Magazine and The Los Angeles Times.
"I think it's outrageous more media attention isn't given to the
event," said George Dunham, an Auburn UPS driver, as he unloaded boxes
from his truck Monday. "You see NASCAR on TV all the time. That's not
exactly a physically demanding sport. Here, these guys are running 100
miles on foot, but it seemed like no one was here to cover it."
Organizers say they're working on bringing more media coverage to the
event, but it's difficult given the race's traditional low-key history
and the sport's limited following.
"It's partially our fault," said Shannon Weil, president of the
Endurance Capital of the World committee and vice president of the
Western States Trail Foundation. "But you can only bang the drum for so
long before you can't drum anymore."
Weil said race promoters need to invest in "someone who knows the
industry" to get the word out to media about its significance.
The event has had a spattering of coverage in the past. The Seattle
Times did a full feature on Scott Jurek a couple years ago. The race
has been featured on "ABC's Wide World of Sports." ESPN had a feature
on the race in the early 1980s. It's been mentioned in People Magazine
and has been a staple feature in countless running magazines during the
race's 32-year history, Weil said.
Ultrarunning's television attention has also been on the rise in recent
months thanks largely to the sport's two media darlings, Pam Reed and
Dean Karnazes, both finishers of the Western States this year.
The two runners were recently featured in the New York Times and
appeared on a segment of "60 Minutes."
Karnazes was also a recent guest on the "Late Show with David
Letterman" as he promoted his book, "Ultra Marathon Man: Confessions of
an All Night Runner."
But the TV cameras were hardly rolling this weekend, with only one
local television news station making the trip up from Sacramento to
cover the race.
"It's a wonderful test of human endurance, and it makes for a great
story," said Dan Weiser, news director for KCRA 3 in Sacramento, which
sent a news crew to the finish line Saturday. "I think there's real
interest out there."
Officials from other area networks said the race wasn't a priority,
partially from lack of resources and it not being promoted well enough.
"I've never received any information from anyone about (the run)," said
Jim Crandell, sports director at KTXL Fox 40. "It passes by me until I
read it in the newspaper to see that it happened."
Justin Allen, a sports reporter for News 10 in Sacramento, said his
station wanted to cover the event, but resources were too limited to
give it the attention it deserved.
"You could definitely pull some great stories out of it," Allen said.
It was too difficult and costly to devote the time and energy needed to
cover the race thoroughly from start to finish along the rugged and
difficult to access 100 miles of trail, Allen said. Plus, a 30-hour
race doesn't lend itself to a minute-and-a-half news segment, he said.
Both Allen and Crandell said the race would benefit from extra
marketing, more sponsorship opportunities and prize money to pull in
more big name athletes.
Adding prize money has been tried before.
Weil said in 1986 and 1987 enough money was garnered from local
sponsors to award finishers, but the added competitiveness took away
from the race's character.
"It changed the attitudes of participants," Weil said. "It was so
unappealing ... We made the decision for it not to be a money sport."
The lack of national and international coverage could also be
attributed to the remoteness of the trail and the limited access for
spectators and media crew.
"It's not a spectator sport," said Steve Avila, owner of the Auburn
Barbershop. "I watched it and waited for two hours (to see a runner)
and they ran by me in a flash."
Bob Richardson, Auburn city manager, said if the Western States run and
its sister event, the Tevis Cup 100-mile horse race, are going to have
a worldwide appeal, the Endurance Committee needs to work on a
long-term strategy that includes increased local and global marketing.
"We're going to have to facilitate that kind of investment to bring
these kind of events to the world," he said.
The Journal's Ryan Sabalow can be reached at
[email hidden].
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imo running needs to be packaged like reality tv (at least in
america)...following/chronicling the daily life prep'ing for such an
event....diet, training, discipline. i think many more people can
relate to this than "the contender...the boxing reality tv show".