Tim Twietmeyer discusses Western States heritage, trail stewardship, and whether prize money threatens the race’s long term identity on the Borderlands Trail and Ultra Running Podcast.
What does that kind of money buy a race? Is it sustainable? Could it pull the world’s best runners away from Western States?
Even Tim paused when I asked whether it might have tempted him in his prime.
Bob summed his position up well:
“You can buy a clock, but you can’t buy time.”
Money can attract athletes and attention in the short term, but it can’t manufacture the heritage of Western States. Decades of history, combined with leadership committed to trail stewardship, medical research, and the runner experience, have created something difficult to replicate.
That’s not an argument against prize money or new ideas.
The next generation should imagine the sport differently.
The question is what we have a responsibility to carry forward.
Our conversation with Tim Twietmeyer and Bob Crowley is available now on the Borderlands Trail & Ultra Running Podcast.
