An Ultra at Burning Man
Black Rock City, Nevada, September 1. The first Burning Man Ultramarathon was run at the annual arts, music and counterculture festival, which is held annually on a dry lake bed in northern Nevada. Organizer Cherie Yanek got 37 Burners to participate in the 50K event, wearing outfits described as a combination of “codpieces, capes, tiny briefs, and lots of body glitter.”
The race had substantially ideal weather, chilly at the 5 a.m. start and warming to the mid-80s by the time the last runner had finished. But there were no dust storms - a frequent occurrence at the festival - to hinder the event.
At the end there were 31 finishers, with Ben Merchant, wearing a pink tutu, being the first to complete the course. But as is typical of the entire festival, which is sometimes described as an exercise in radical self-reliance, the run was more about participation than a finishing time.
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