We Get By With a Little Help from Our Friends
It’s been quite a couple weeks since the Vermont 100 was officially cancelled due to unprecedented flooding throughout the Green Mountain State. Maybe like us, you went through nearly the entire grieving cycle, experiencing every range of emotions.
We appreciate everyone who’s reached out with thoughts of support, and with stories of the adventures you took on over what would have been race weekend. Congrats to those of you who still ran 100k or 100 miles – simply incredible!
More than that though, we are grateful for those of you who opted to help in the VT100 communities over what would have been weekend – truly an ultra effort! The stories and photos we have seen are heartwarming and perfectly exemplify what is so incredible about the ultrarunning community – we saw runners, race committee members, and volunteers all coming together for a common cause. We also saw the VT100 giving support to the communities that have supported our event year after year (such as putting out water hoses for runners and riders/horses in 2019 during an incredibly hot race weekend). Please, keep sharing these!
Below, you will find a beautiful message from “Radio Rob,” who does all our communication on the ground for the VT100, as well as pictures that give insight into the destruction in Vermont and the heartfelt response of those in our trail and ultra circle who stepped up immediately to help restore local life.
“The meaning of community and caring of others.”
Rob writes:
“When the call to cancel the Vermont 100 was decided due to the constant bombardment of rain to our communities we utilize for our course, there was an opportunity to make good. With the abundance of food we had purchased [courtesy of the incredible folks at Brownsville Butcher & Pantry] and the possibility of an army of volunteers that may be available to us, the call went out to our runners, committee members, and local community. The response was overwhelming!
The concentration of our effort was focused on Reading, Cavenish, and Ludlow to distribute the abundance of food that was prepared for the race. All three communities welcomed the donation with much appreciation. We chose Reading and Cavenish to offer our volunteers to help with the physical clean up.
What we witnessed was the devastation of the storms that hit those communities. Homes filled with mud, water, and debris. Personal items pulled out on the front and back yards of entire neighborhoods. Basements full of mud that needed to be shoveled, walls that needed to be stripped of wall board and insulation, some floors that needed to be pulled up and most of these items hauled to the local dump.
What I feel we all saw, was the true meaning of community, and the human value of caring for others in need. As we embarked on our assigned tasks, as we engaged with the residents of each of these communities, there was not a sense of despair, but a strength by all to get this done. Homeowners were amazingly welcoming our presence to work side by side with their town residents.
The Vermont 100 volunteers truly represented the best of human kindness. Thank you all who came and gave yourselves to those in crises.”
Photos: Groups of volunteers gathered to pitch in — serving food, shoveling mud, hauling wheelbarrows, cleaning floors, and joining together to do whatever is necessary to rebuild beautiful Vermont. Many are wearing a yellow or purple VT100 volunteer shirt, same as they would have if none of this happened and instead they were helping our runners finish their race last weekend.
Yes, Thank You!
As Rob’s story tells, the VT100 is a small but mighty event, and it is you — our runners and supporters — who make it so! Together, we are #VermontStrong
And Don’t forget
You still have three options regarding your registration:
- Roll into a free entry to this year’s VT50 on September 24, 2023. We will send your name and email address to the VT50 race director after August 1st, so he can work with you regarding signing up.
- Roll into a guaranteed entry to the 2024 VT100 on July 19-21st, 2024, with as much of an entry fee discount as we’re able to give (now looking like about 30% based on a few vendors offering price breaks even though we were past their cancellation deadline for such an offer). We will email these folks in early December about claiming their 2024 VT100 entry. NOTE: Folks who want the guaranteed entry but also want to donate their entry fee – you can do that by simply not entering the registration discount code provided to you when you register next year. Thank you!
- Donate your entry fee to Vermont Adaptive and the impacted communities (and try your luck with the 2024 VT100 lottery if you decide you want to run again).
Please let us know which option you select by August 1st at this link here. If we don’t hear from you by August 1st, we will assume that you have chosen to have your entry fee donated to the local communities impacted by this disaster and Vermont Adaptive.
Additionally
We’ve had a few other incredible local Race Directors who have offered the opportunity for displaced VT100 runners to use their fitness – info on these events including how to claim their offers has been sent to runners by email. If you missed yours, email vt100@vermontadaptive.com.
Shoutouts go to the Happily Running, Beast of Burden 100, Burning River, SIX03, MidState Massive, and Many on the Genny. A huge thank you to each of these races that have opened their doors to ensure that our runners all have the opportunity to put their fitness to good use.
Happy running, and I look forward to seeing y’all out on the trails soon!
-Amy and the VT100 race committee
