Hey, fam, welcome to the free trial podcast. Of course, I am your host, Dylan Bowman. And today we are joined by Gary Robbins,

longtime beloved athlete, coach, and race director from Chilliwack, British Columbia.

If you're listening to the show, you probably already know that last Thursday,

UTMB and Iron Man announced a new race in Whistler, BC, an action that has been interpreted by

many in the community as a bit of a

hostile takeover of an independent race that formerly belonged to our guest and his event company

Coast Mountain Trail Running. That race was called Whistler Alpine Meadows, aka Wham, a race that

had grown to be very popular with the local trail running

community in Western Canada and beyond. This situation has garnered a lot of attention from the

media, from athletes, from other independent race directors, and it really does feel like an

inflection point moment for the sport at large.

Gary happens to be a longtime friend of mine and somebody I respect deeply.

So I reached out last week and he agreed to come on the show and talk about it.

As I understand it, he's also done an interview with Megan Hicks that's forthcoming on

irunfar.com.

But aside from that, Gary has since decided to abstain from media interviews on the subject.

So I hope I did a good job here.

And to his credit, and in the spirit of trail running, Gary wanted to keep this conversation to the facts,

the community response, and the path forward without

venturing into speculation or outrage, a sentiment that I definitely admire and that I tried to

adhere to in the conversation. We're going to go ad free in the episode due to the nature of the

discussion, but please visit the show notes to find deals and discounts with our great brand

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