The Pistol

As with most decisions, there are pros and cons. After careful analysis and discussion among our staff, here are some of the reasons why we set it up this way:

• We want to maintain a comfortable family feel to the race and avoid a “cattle stampede”. We don’t want to overload the course first thing Saturday. This helps us keep the Pistol Ultra a top quality event and a good experience for our participants.
• We want to maintain a high level of aid station support and avoid overloading them early on Saturday.
• The Pistol Ultra is a great venue for runners to try something they haven’t done before. Some want to experience running through the night in a “safe” venue, not cut their teeth on some hairy mountainous trail run where their life insurance policy may be needed. It provides a way for these runners to try night running without having to try tackling a hundo right off.
• It gives the opportunity for some “ultra-crazy” runners to tackle the Double Barrel Challenge: Complete the 50K (or possibly even the 100K!) in the morning, then the 50 miler that night. Successfully finishing the Double Barrel Challenge comes with a really cool award! (See Awards below.)
• It gives the hundo runners new faces – and 50 miler “pacers” to join them during the night.
• It provides the opportunity for the 50 milers to run with the hundo runners and learn how to tackle longer distances.
• It provides the hundo runners with encouragement and additional runners on the course during the night.
• The staff and volunteers are already in place for the hundo runners, and can handle the additional 50 milers.
• It helps spread the finishers out more uniformly over the entire event so we can provide more support, encouragement, and recognition to each one.
• It helps fill in the number of runners crossing the finish line later in the event to keep the energy level up.