Mountain/Ultra/Trail Running Council
USA Track & Field
USA Track & Field
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USATF President Leads Effort to Name American Ultra Teams January 29, 2004 Bill Roe, President of USA Track & Field (USATF), has indicated an interest in working in the short term with the Mountain / Ultra / Trail Running Council (MUT) to determine the authority of MUT to name all American teams under its jurisdiction, including ultra running teams. With a 10 to 3 vote, MUT recently rejected the American Ultrarunners Association's (AUA) proposals, to allow AUA to select the 100K IAU team and name the AUA's American 100K race in April as the USATF 100K Championship, in return for AUA's monetary support of the 100K Team. About this proposal and MUT's vote, Roe stated, "Although AUA is offering a short term solution for what is seen as a problem, AUA's proposal is not in the best long-term interest of our building this movement within the USATF umbrella. I am not in favor of abdicating any portion of our governance obligation to comply with the International Association of Ultrarunners / International Association of Athletics Federations (IAU/IAAF) invitation for USATF to name USA teams, as we do for all disciplines of our sport. MUT and USATF firmly believe that this responsibility must remain a province of USATF within the MUT Running Council. With the growth of mountain and ultra running interest within the IAAF, this only makes sense. At this point in our discussions, the AUA has no authority to name the US 100K Team. However, we are open to working with the AUA to provide increased support to ultrarunning through sponsorship." MUT chair Nancy Hobbs recently attended World Mountain Running Association meetings at the IAAF offices in Monaco, and asked for clarification of the relationships of the various groups to the IAAF and the IAAF's members. Initial assurances were that the IAAF will continue to support (even increase their support) for mountain and ultra running, and that they will do so through their member federations who also embrace these disciplines. Other grass-roots organizations can hold their own championships, but can not send their own "American" team to IAAF world championship, cup, and "patron" competitions (the 100K Ultrarunning Championships are an event under the patronage of the IAAF). IAAF recognizes only teams sent by their member federations. USATF is IAAF's member federation, and the USATF 100K Team is the only American team that is recognized at the IAU/IAAF 100K World Cup. The US' 100K program must remain a USATF/MUT ultra running program to be officially recognized in 100K World Cup competition.
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