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Oh, so he’s a sadist.
Jason:
More like a scientist – and we’re his lab rats. When he launched Long & Windy – we didn’t know if it was ‘windy’, as in referring to strong winds, or ‘windy’ because of the million switchbacks. Turns out, it was both. Only one person ended up finishing Long & Windy – our mate and frequent podcast guest Rupert Azzario – and since then he’s ended up with sponsorships out the wazoo, brand deals, a Netflix documentary – a professional ultrarunner’s wet dream. He’s the King of the Ampersands.
Mac:
Yeah, and didn’t someone die?
Jason:
RIP Steve Parsons, lost in his prime. He was the race leader, real competitive guy, but thehigh winds and narrow trails got the better of him and he was blown off the route. They never even found his body.
Mac:
Jesus.
Jason:
Look, Steve was not the first elite – and he won’t be the last – to die doing one of these races. They’re inherently risky – but that’s where you can practically see these elite athletes salivating at the idea of rising to the challenge. It sounds mad, but these guys want to be pushed. Whether they admit it or not, they want to find their limit. Sure, for any other race director, an incident like that would shut them down for good. But if anything, it only added to Boones’s mystique. He got even more mainstream publicity after that. The next Big & Darks were covered by major media outlets, posts went viral on social media, the whole shebang. He has this group of fans online – the Booneshounds – who obsess over his every move. Boones’s star was rising and every elite runner wanted a chance to tackle his races. And then, two years ago, he stopped. No Big & Dark. No Long & Windy. Speculation was rife – maybe he was scouting for an even better location for a new race, maybe he was on a running pilgrimage down the length of the Americas – there were supposed sightings of him in Mexico and Argentina! There were even some rumours that he’d died, andquestions about who was going to take over the races – or whether they were done for good. But now he’s back, and you’d best believe he’s got something extra in the bag to really set this next race apart. It’s a true game changer. Can you guess what it is?
Mac:
The money.
Jason:
Damn right, the money. Five hundred thousand bucks. Two thousand dollars per mile. Ever heard anything like that in ultrarunning?