A "Rejection" Letter To Leadville 100

Whether it was the organizers who regretted it or whether it was you is really moot.

The fact is, if you were not lucky enough to register via lottery for the tinselly Leadville 100 this year (registration fee on selection was a whopping $275 and change), chances are you'd have obtained a very similar rejection letter in your email.

Some major surprises were seen in terms of the suggested expenditures elsewhere so as to get a "preferential" entry. In other words, you could buy yourself into the sky to race. More precisely, you could have paid $1250 bucks for the 2-day Leadville Training camp from CARmichael Training Systems and sealed the deal.

Some folks were asking themselves hard whether they really wanted to sell their homes to do this. What is your perspective on spending huge sums of money on races, much less on over-glorified ones? I surely don't grow notes on trees.

Note : The following comes courtesy of poster "Euphrades" on CN Forums to the topic "Leadville 100 is a scam".


Dear Leadville Trail 100 Family,

We deeply regret that we were unable to accept your application into the 2010 Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike Race. We really wish we could accommodate every interested rider, but we simply can’t. Our goal and primary obligation is to offer every racer the nation’s highest quality athletic experience with the utmost degree of safety, medical care and racer support. The ever increasing numbers of returning racers and new applicants are testimony we are meeting our goal. We do not keep a waiting list and cannot yet accept entries for 2011.

There is still ONE way you can gain entry into the race. For the third year, the Leadville Trail100 has partnered with Carmichael Training Systems to host three 2-day mountain bike camps in Leadville in July 2010 in preparation for the LT100 MTB Race. Camp participants will earn guaranteed entry into the race and the race entry fee is included in the camp fee. Athletes who are unsuccessful in the lottery will have first priority to get into a CTS LT100 Camp. Call CTS today at 866-355-0645 or visit www.trainright.com to reserve a camp spot and we’ll see you at the start line on August14.

We would also encourage you to consider entering the awesome 50 mile “Silver Rush” on July 17. It’s a tough, demanding and incredibly beautiful ride in Leadville’s historic east side mining district. Also new this year is 24 Hours of Leadville on Sept. 4 & 5 – for when 100 miles isn’t enough! Try it solo or grab some of your friends and sign up as a team. In addition, we are offering a special $50 discount on the 24 Hours of Leadville race by including this Code: 24Pb on the race application. Simply download it from the web site, fill it our and mail it in!

Last, but certainly not least, we always need and welcome volunteers to assist the mountain bike and running events. Not only is it very rewarding to help other riders and runners achieve their goals, but preference in the 2011 entry process is also given to those who volunteer for any of our 2010 races.

We are sincerely grateful for your enthusiasm and dedication to the “Race Across the Sky”.

In appreciation,

Ken Chlouber
President, Leadville Trail 100

* * *