|
|
|
|
jrjo
Gone Fishin
|
|
|
Joined: 15 May 2002
Posts: 16451
Location: Lake Wobegon, MN
|
| Back to top
|
|
 Posted: 12/19/05 - 15:05 Post subject: Dean Karnazes.. hack?
| Quote: | The Truth About Dean Karnazes
In her recent article (Outside Magazine, October 2005), Florence Williams
very insightfully noted that (Dean) "Karnazes seeks out his very own categories"
in races. In fact, inventing categories is Karnazes's modus operandi and
his principal means of duping the public and mainstream journalists into
believing he is a top international ultra athlete.
In reality, Dean Karnazes does not win legitimate races very often, even
when confronted with only domestic competition. In fact, according to
Runner's World magazine's February 2005 edition, he has won only one race in
eleven years - the 2004 Badwater Ultramarathon - which Karnazes amusingly
heralds as the "world's toughest footrace" on his website.
Indeed, his website is littered with claims of being a 'winner' and a
'champion' which don't stand up under scrutiny. For example (as highlighted
in the Outside article), Karnazes finished second in the 2002 South Pole
Marathon, yet he absurdly claims on his website to be the "winner" of a
'running division'. The winner of course also ran and beat Karnazes by
almost half an hour. Yet Karnazes's curiously named category was created by
him on the premise that the winner wore different footwear (snowshoes) than
Karnazes. Moreover, Karnazes disingenuously decided to invent a category
within the race all too himself, in which he was the only participant and a
self-styled 'winner'. Furthermore, he actually dropped out of the longer
ultramarathon race that two other runners completed. This was very curious
behavior for someone who claims to be a top ultra runner.
Similarly, Karnazes has also claimed on his website to be the multiple
"champion" of the Saturn Relay ultra division, a 199-mile relay event.
However, he is the only person who chooses to run the event solo each time
rather than as part of a relay. As such, he once again manufactures a
category (Team Dean) all to himself so he can be a "winner" by design.
Indeed, Karnazes is very fond of using the word "winner" when perhaps the
word "recipient" would be a more accurate term. For example, his website
boasts that he is a ten time “Silver Buckle Winner” at the Western States
100-Mile Endurance Run when this is an award received by a large number of
competitors who finish the race within a certain time - not the actual
winner of the event. On a related note, a claim on his website that he
successfully completed the Western States in winter is simply untrue. He
never actually completed the 100-mile distance, managing only 75 miles in
snowshoes before dropping out.
Furthermore, his website states that he was the winner of the “World Outdoor
Championships” in 2000. As Karnazes’s website deals almost exclusively with
ultrarunning, it is natural for the unsuspecting member of the public to
assume he was the winner of a world running championship. In fact, the
so-called 'world outdoor championships' he refers to was essentially a
domestic US competition that incorporated wind surfing, mountain biking and
other disciplines with only one element involving running. It is this kind
of half-truth and intentional deception that has captured the attention of
some investigative reporters.
It is apparent that Karnazes's failure to win legitimate ultramarathon races
has led him to invent what he believes are new categories: where he can be
'successful' by being the only person to attempt them. A case in point is
his pursuit of the longest ever non-stop run (without sleeping), which was
the theme of the above referenced Outside article. However, when Arizona's
Pam Reed openly challenged Karnazes for this supposed new category, feature
stories appeared on the rivalry between both athletes for the title of
running further than anyone else. The initial target was set at 300 miles,
which Reed negotiated first, and now Karnazes has claimed to have run 350
miles non-stop (unmonitored).
However, this claim by Karnazes that his distance represents the longest
ever non-stop run is simply untrue and an absolutely outrageous claim.
Yiannis Kouros, a Greek ultrarunner and multiple world record holder, has in
fact run much further without sleeping on multiple occasions (all in
monitored events). For example, en route to an official 1,000-mile world
record in New York in 1988 it was recorded that Kouros ran 456 miles over
the first four days without sleeping.
Perhaps the most troubling and damning aspect of all the hype and spin is
that Dean Karnazes was acutely aware of these facts before making his latest
claim: he had in fact been notified more than once that these records
already existed. However, he chose to ignore the truth and has since refused
to set the record straight and correct many of the inaccuracies he has spun
to the media and public on the matter. Karnazes knows the facts, yet he
continues his charade for the media, shocking and totally unacceptable
behavior for the poster child of American ultra running.
There is now surely a duty on the ultra community, the media, and respected
adventure and athletics magazines to reveal the truth behind Mr. Karnazes’s
deceptions. When the smokescreen and mirrors are removed, Dean Karnazes’s
claims pale in comparison to legitimate national and international class
ultrarunners’ accomplishments. |
|
|
|
|
|
MechEngDropout
Member
|
|
|
Joined: 27 Jun 2003
Posts: 10474
Location: Off the grid
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 12/19/05 - 15:46 Post subject:
Based on articles and leafing through his book, I've always thought of him as nothing more than an attention hound. I was aware of the snowshoes issue and was wondering if he was recognized by the race officials as a winner in a category or if he just labeled himself as such.
|
|
|
|
|
Pug
The Movie Geek
|
|
|
Joined: 21 Aug 2003
Posts: 8924
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 12/19/05 - 16:08 Post subject:
Veddy interesting. I can grant the snowshoes one at the South Pole, even though he did create that category himself, but it's always felt a little shady or perhaps just self-aggrandizing with the "oh yeah, but I ran the whole thing solo" and Pam Reed has always felt to me to be the better runner.
But Dean does, supposedly, do good work in raising money and awareness for handicapped and sick children...so slack he has.
|
|
|
Posted: 06/29/07 - 15:29 Post subject:
 Really?? You people are ridiculous. I bet if you had been the first person to run to the South Pole in regular running shoes, you'd be telling people that you were the first person to do so. Dean is AMAZING, no ifs ands or buts about it. Have you even read his account of the South Pole run? They were stuck out there for a month before actually running the marathon. He stuck with the original game plan of running without the snow shoes, and he was the only one who did so. Just because no other ultra athletes capitalize on their achievements doesn't make him an attention seeker, he's just sharing his stories. He's inspiring. What is it about the media, or human beings, that makes people only talk about the negative. Dean pushes himself and by sharing those stories, I believe he wants to push others. Nothing wrong with that.
|
|
|
|
|
MechEngDropout
Member
|
|
|
Joined: 27 Jun 2003
Posts: 10474
Location: Off the grid
|
| Back to top
|
|
Posted: 08/02/07 - 20:20 Post subject:
| me wrote: | | Really?? You people are ridiculous. I bet if you had been the first person to run to the South Pole in regular running shoes, you'd be telling people that you were the first person to do so. Dean is AMAZING, no ifs ands or buts about it. Have you even read his account of the South Pole run? They were stuck out there for a month before actually running the marathon. He stuck with the original game plan of running without the snow shoes, and he was the only one who did so. Just because no other ultra athletes capitalize on their achievements doesn't make him an attention seeker, he's just sharing his stories. He's inspiring. What is it about the media, or human beings, that makes people only talk about the negative. Dean pushes himself and by sharing those stories, I believe he wants to push others. Nothing wrong with that. |
The problem isn't that he's saying he's the only one to do so. He's not. He's saying he's the winner in the running division. It goes beyond sharing stories when you start to put a PR twist on everything - the longest run without stopping is a prime example. He goes a bit beyond bragging.
|
|
|
|
  |
All times are GMT - 4 Hours
|
| Page 1 of 1 |
Related topics: | |
|
