Darcy Piceu and Gina Lucrezi on Elevating Women’s Participation in Ultrarunning- #208

Jul 14, 2023

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The 2023 Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run starts today. While three-time winner Darcy Piceu attempts her 10th loop around the San Juans, what better time than to listen to her and Trail Sisters founder and Hardrock board member Gina Lucrezi talk about the gender issues this sport faces.

Thanks to the work of these two and other rockstars in the sport, this is the second running of this iconic 100-mile event in which the percentage of women’s entrants will be no less than the percentage of women’s lottery applicants.

Hardrock instituted this policy to combat the lottery’s gender bias, which favors veteran runners. Given the low percentage of women participants in those early days, this means the old lottery system favored male applicants.

So sit back and join us as we revisit episode 36 (originally published May 31, 2019) where Darcy and Gina spoke about the challenges and opportunities to make the sport of ultrarunning more inclusive and equitable for women.

Thank you so much, Merrell, for supporting the show and fastestknowntime.com! If you’re looking for a new shoe in which to test yourself on the trails, check out the MTL Skyfire 2, the ultra-lightweight, award-winning trail shoe from our friends at Merrell Test Lab. See what all the buzz is about at www.merrell.com.

Original Show Notes

Darcy Piceu and Gina Lucrezi share thoughts on this important topic.

"We're in a real interesting time right now. If I do nothing else in the sport, it would be to raise awareness."

This is a different conversation for Fastest Known Time, and quite worthwhile.

Trail Sisters has established 5 recommended practices for races:

Equal podium spots
Equal prize money and awards
Women's-specific swag (not just unisex)
Menstrual products at aid stations (events over a Half Marathon)
Opportunity for Women at the front of the Starting Line

Citations from topics discussed in this episode