The Call of the Ultra

We are very excited about our awards.

Everyone who finishes a race will received a hand-crafted wooden medal.  When you finish, we'll take your medal and brand it with our custom-made branding iron featuring the logo of The Hungerford Games.  Lots of races differentiate themselves with the medals they give, but we feel like this is a particularly appropriate way to celebrate a successful race through the woods.

The top three males and the top three females in each race will also receive a unique, hard-crafted wooden trophy with a particularly arboreal appeal.  It'll definitely give the front-runners something to shoot for, and something to brag about.

Today, though, I'd like to focus on explaining the Ultramarathon Hiking Stick.  As a first-time race, we view our inaugural event as the start of a tradition -- or, the start of many traditions.  The Stick ties in perfectly with that theme.  Everyone who finishes the 50-mile course between sunrise and sundown (eleven hours and fifty-two minutes) will receive The Stick.  Every ultramarathoner who comes back next year and finishes between sunrise and sunset will have a "notch" carved into the top.  Over the years, returners will be able to collected more and more notches for their Hiking Sticks.

Starting in 2014, we will publish a list of all the returning ultramarathoners, as well as the number of times each runner has completed the 50 before sunset.  In ten years, we envision a handful of runners who will have "notched" in every single Hungerford Games 50-Miler -- we'll have to think of something special to do for ten-year vets (free lifetime registration, anyone?)

If you're thinking about entering this year's ultra, we hope this gives you a little more incentive to join us for the start of our tradition.  

Oh, and The Stick is pretty incredible.  We're looking forward to starting yours soon!