The most coveted prize in sport -- Badwater Belt Buckle

What will be the entry criteria?

Matt Carpenter

sadfadfs wrote:

What will be the entry criteria?

I will only tell each person that wishes to enter. If I were to post it publicly that's too commercial and conventional.

NotanUltraGuy wrote:

I'm going to start an Ultra that is so hard, so difficult and so impossible to run that people can't even start it.

THAT will be the ultimate ultra event.

I'll have a race where you have to cut off one of your feet before you finish. Remember this isnt about being fast, it's about being "tough".

jmhu7987548/*-- wrote:

Matt Carpenter

What about him

I had one and threw it in garbage in protest of the offensive RD, the hype which is disrespectful of other ultra events which the RD either knows nothing about or disregards, the narcissism of many of the competitors, the $1000 entry fee ... and so forth.

DirtbagClimber wrote:

Is anyone on Letsrun in possession of the coveted Badwater belt buckle?

Yes. I picked one up from Goodwill on their Orange Tag $1 Thursday.

That's how much they cost retail ... you got screwed.

Back in the late seventies, races gave finisher shirts to finishers, and medals to winners. Sometime in the mid to late 80s I recall marathons started giving medals to all finishers. This has since expanded to half marathons, and even some shorter races-though a much smaller fraction of shorter races. In the last 5 or 6 years, I've noticed the expansion of silly finisher medals that double as bottle openers, etc, and belt buckles-though belt buckles still seem to be the realm of ultras and 24 hour relay races.

I've got a closet full of T-shirts that I never wear, and a sock drawer full of medals and a couple of belt buckles that are like an albatross around my neck. The destination marathons-once in lifetime sorts of things, I understand. I suppose I could throw them away, but why do races waste the money? Frankly, I'd rather have a few more port a potties at the start-or a cheaper entry fee. Of my runner friends, I think the vast majority (90% or more) are similarly underwhelmed by finisher medals.

Aside from the medals, I'm also annoyed at the "Expos" that these smaller races force you to attend. In 1982, I ran a Marathon in Denver, with probably 4 or 5 thousand entrants. They mailed me my number. Now, races that are less than half that size force you to attend an Expo the day before to get your number. If you live 75 or 100 miles away, a daytrip becomes an overnighter. Every Podunk race in the country trys to set itself up in imitation of the NY Marathon, with finisher medals, and Expos, etc, I just don't want to play anymore. Why can't we just have races. Why does every race have to be a "destination"

Anyone else feel this way?

The problem is that the 90% of your friends that don't care about medals make up .0000001% of marathon registrants.

Every time I look at online comments about a marathon they are overwhelming about the stupid medal.

I don't like belt buckles wrote:

Anyone else feel this way?

Agreed.

If we stick with individual sports, I'd say:

The triple crown trophy (horses are people too)

Olympic track gold medals (not all golds are

Equal)

Major marathon winner medals

135 miles is a long way to go in 48 hours but as pointed out earlier it's a brisk walk even if you sleep and you have a support crew. Toughest part is bagging your poop

I would say it takes a special person to win one of these things. You have to have a passion for it, and a certain type of talent that requires you to take a huge amount of punishment. If Kenenisa Bekele trained for a Badwater, I wouldn't bet on him winning.

ydfrsxix wrote: If Kenenisa Bekele trained for a Badwater, I wouldn't bet on him winning.

If you had said, "if Kenenisa Bekele didn't train for Badwater and just ran it on a whim, I wouldn't bet on him winning", you still would have been so very, very wrong.