Dear Editor:

There are so many personal stories written about the Pikes Peak Marathon that appear in newspapers, magazines and club newsletters around the country. I read many of them. There are also lots of people who run Pikes Peak and do not put pen to paper but instead contact our offices and describe their experience. I certainly understand the personal side of the Pikes Peak Marathon from my years of involvement with the race as a competitor and organizer. No other race can compare to the passion and dedication I feel for Pikes Peak. Thus, I understand the proprietary nature people feel for the mountain and “their” race.

We often send out surveys after Pikes Peak and after the Triple Crown to get feedback from runners as well as demographic statistics that we use to secure sponsors and race support. We also receive numerous comments, mostly good, some bad and we appreciate all the feedback that we get.

For years, I took personal affront when anything negative was said about the race. I felt that we did everything we could to offer a quality event to competitors. I became defensive and constantly felt I had to protect the integrity of the event. However, I realize that there will always be someone who doesn’t like what you are doing and there is nothing you can do to change that person’s mind. Everyone is free to voice their gripe, write their story or tell their friends about an experience good or bad. And, we don’t have to agree, or, we can agree to disagree.

Obviously, I am trying to make a long winded analogy here in response to the recent back stabbing that has occurred with the Peaktus Interruptus article. Each letter to the editor becomes more and more defensive and more and more brutal. It has gone beyond an attack of a person’s word and has become an attack of a person’s life-style. How unfair. I wish you’d all take a deep breath, count to ten and call each other for a training run on Barr Trail. And maybe, just maybe, you can all cheer each other on as we celebrate 40 years on the mountain in 1995!

— Nancy Hobbs


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