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Summary: World 100K and the team format - Allison just raced for Team USA at the World 100K in Spain. Making the team is the hard part; wearing the USA kit is the payoff. Conditions were much better than India two years ago (cars on course, poor air, long transfers). - Scoring is the sum of the top three finishers’ times, so individual goals and team gaps both matter. The men’s team won gold by 44 seconds. In 2024 Allison was told late to close a roughly two-minute gap on Japan and help secure bronze. - Storylines: Charlie Lawrence and Courtney Olson won the titles; men’s team gold; Phil Young made his first team at 40 after years of flat ultras. The women's team was short-handed (Ann Flowers out with injury; Ashley Paulson also out, though later linked to Moab). Courtney still delivered; Allison argues she is under-sponsored relative to her results. - Other names: Chikara (longtime scorer, high mileage, third American this year and needed for the gold), plus the Brogan, Phil, Anthony, and a very young Charlie. Zach recalled 2014 gold (Max King, himself, Zach Miller) and passing into sixth in the chute. Why flat 100Ks stay niche - Few certified US options: Mad City (top two can auto-qualify), Tunnel Hill (Steve Durbin added and certified a 100K), Jackpot splits, a Connecticut race, Marine Corps 50K (sometimes dropped). Certification is expensive and unfamiliar to many race directors. - Tunnel Hill is becoming a “Valencia of ultras” for fast times and records (Courtney’s American 100K record; Allison’s age-group 50-mile). Momentum still fades between headline moments. - Ideas to keep attention: athlete-led series in the Clayton Young / Charlie Lawrence style, multi-athlete YouTube profiles (Sweat Elite model), photography and storytelling around champs, and annual broadcast of Tunnel Hill or a timed event rather than one-offs. - Carbon X built hype, then had no sequel. The Adidas 100K record attempt landed during UTMB week and got buried. AeroVipa’s fast 100K series with Mount to Coast only lasted a year or two; Mount to Coast now sponsors Tunnel Hill. - Contracts and appearance bonuses pull athletes toward UTMB, Western States, and golden tickets. Road ultras need either record clauses or a reason to skip those races. Des Linden at Tunnel Hill could have drawn marathon attention; injury sent that spotlight to Javelina instead. Prize money (Run Rabbit Run) - A very large purse (on the order of $100k to win) is real leverage, but the date fights Western States, Hard Rock, UTMB, and Javelina. - Allison’s questions: where the money comes from, and whether there is drug testing. Same concern around Broken Arrow’s purse. - Upside for unsponsored runners: a win can replace a sponsorship check and get a brand’s attention (Mason Coffey / Gorge as a recent example). - Zach floated paying appearance fees to hand-pick a field and fund a livestream. Allison countered that appearance money can be collected with a token start, and that it enriches athletes who are already rich unless underdogs still have a path. Marathon-major distance clauses (Emma Bates in Chicago) show the injury risk of tying pay to finishing. Doping policy - Both treat big purses without meaningful testing as a problem. USATF events already test (Allison tested for second at Mad City; Zach tested for winning the Jackpot US 100-mile title). Early on, tests were mostly for world records (Desert Solstice 2015 American record was not tested). - Zach’s frame: World Athletics has the right out-of-competition and biological-passport model, but not enough money to use it often. Jonah Koech went years without an OOC test, then a cluster of tests built the passport. Ultras risk the same “deter some, miss some” outcome. - Zach estimates only about 1–5% of US endurance events have any doping policy. Preferred first step is written expectations, not viral punishment: opt in to compete/results under a concrete policy (World Athletics or the race’s own), participate otherwise. Western States is zero-tolerance on bans for entry, but golden-ticket races have let banned athletes run and only blocked the ticket (Beth McKenzie, Lisa Roberts). No clear requirement that qualifiers carry the same policy. Growth, access, and culture - Western States can mean years of qualifiers and a lottery. Short-loop and road events are cheaper and easier (Equalizer 12-hour was $85, no qualifier; Mad City is 10K loops and crew-light). Old-school ultras and local races are the practical on-ramp. - Camera saturation at Western States, Leadville, and UTMB often duplicates the same shot and crowds runners. 200-milers grew partly because big names brought media; that may not transfer. - Austin has on the order of 150 run groups. Historical running booms rise and fall; the sport is less cheap than the old “accessible in a bad economy” version, so a dip is likely, but not yet. Social media keeps the boom going and also pushes people at 200 miles before they have the base. - Shared close: leave no trace. Allison was struck by bottles and gels thrown on the 100K course. Allison’s race - Mixed experience. She rolled and badly sprained an ankle on an easy path the day they left, after her best training block. Flight canceled, a few days off in Portugal, then race-week physio (Kelly) got the ankle runnable. - Only four US women started, so she felt the team pressure. About 58°F at the start, about 91°F three hours later. Ice bandanas, sponges, and course sprinklers; attrition was high. She ran a lot with Sarah Morrison, no music allowed, and finished 15th. - She wants another team. Times are getting faster. Uniform swaps and the camp atmosphere are the part she values most (40+ countries). Tunnel Hill is the likely next target if she rebounds; unfinished business there. Find her on Strava (Allison Mercer) and Instagram (onewomandanceparty).