Trail runs and potential impact on the Adirondacks

Posting about The Great Adirondack Trail Run and the Wakely Dam Ultra today got me to thinking about some of the concerns organized trail runs like these can raise.

In the case of the Great Adirondack Trail Run, I know The Mountaineer and its sponsors have occasionally come under criticism from people worried about environmental impact. I have never attended the race, but it sounds as if everything possible is being done to minimize impact to the trail and its surroundings. The course is on a mix of public and private land… it follows a deserted trail for a portion of the race… registration for the more strenuous of the two races, and the one that dips into public lands, is limited… porta potties are provided, as well as shuttles… the starts are staggered… littering will earn you an immediate DQ… and volunteers apparently sweep the trail behind the run to make sure there is no litter or damage. Given the positive contribution this event has to local environmentally focused charities it would appear any minor impact is more than offset.

The Wakely Ultra event on the other hand, at least from what I have personally read and heard, doesn’t seem to elicit as loud of a reaction. But why? I have to believe that this is a product of it flying under the radar a little more. After all, this run traverses what some would consider a more sensitive stretch of trail and, to the best of my knowledge, does not raise money for any charities. While the Wakely organizers also take efforts to reduce impact (limited registrations, shuttles, trail sweepers, etc) one would think if you had to split hairs and pick a race to get upset about… it would be this one.

And I don’t know, maybe people are equally upset about the Wakely Ultra… about these events in general… but because The Mountaineer and its sponsors are well known, that is what I tend to hear about.

I’m not sure how I personally feel about any of this. I can say that, in the case of the Wakely event, I do have a negative gut reaction to a large group of people running through what I consider one of the nicest, more pristine and peaceful, sections of the Northville Placid Trail… but truth be told, the actual impact from either of these races (thanks to the care of the organizers) seems pretty limited. A small group of careless campers could do more harm than either.

So I have to wonder if at least part of the concern that some people have with these races is less tangible than litter and trail erosion. If it has more to do with the idea of “wilderness”, and the erosion of that concept. If staging a sponsored competitive event in a wilderness zone somehow reduces the ‘wild’ of it all.