Races
Trail running races are organised globally. Due to the relatively short history of trail running as an organised sport, there are very few established organising bodies. For example, in the United States, the American Trail Running Association was only founded in 1996 to represent trail races in the US.
Compared to road races, there are often fewer participants as number of entries is often limited. There can be a few reasons for this: narrowness of trails, national parks (where the courses are often set) limits, safety and environmental concerns. Distances in races vary widely, from 5 km, to over 100 miles (161km). Many high profile trail races are of ultramarathon distance. Races of similar distance often differ significantly in terms of terrain. This make it difficult to compare performance across different course. This is in contrast to times over standard distances in road running, such as 10 km or marathon.
Aid stations supplying food and beverages are commonly located every 5 to 10 kilometers along the course. Most trail races only have a single stage, where competitors are timed over the entire duration of their run, including stops at aid stations. However, fully supported trail running stage races also exist. These multiday stage races offer complete support and runner amenities between stages.
Some trail races include:
Read more about this topic: Trail Running
Famous quotes containing the word races:
“I am obliged to confess that I do not regard the abolition of slavery as a means of warding off the struggle of the two races in the Southern states. The Negroes may long remain slaves without complaining; but if they are once raised to the level of freemen, they will soon revolt at being deprived of almost all their civil rights; and as they cannot become the equals of the whites, they will speedily show themselves as enemies.”
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859)
“Now different races and nationalities cherish different ideals of society that stink in each other’s nostrils with an offensiveness beyond the power of any but the most monstrous private deed.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)
“For the most part we stupidly confound one man with another. The dull distinguish only races or nations, or at most classes, but the wise man, individuals.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)