[Closed] How popular do we think this event will be?

No idea. I'm struggling not to get all reverse snob about it and wonder what kind of hideous 'alpha' men will be getting involved.

I don't care how many fairy lights they put up, it's still a bloody tent. Will be interesting to see whether there is any crossover between the ultramarathon and ultraglamping communities. I suspect not much.

Imagine what other bucket list stuff you could do for 15 grand.

"the most exclusive, luxury ultra-run experience on the planet".

Like all other exclusive, luxury experiences, doesn't even figure in my universe.

Sounds brilliant

Is the run optional?

Race director Rebecca Silva told BBC Scotland the idea was for the runners to "race like a warrior but recover like a king".

Love it!

I wouldn't go near anyone who actually entered this event, but if someone wants to take £15k off them for a few days of telling them how awesome they are whilst feeding them quails eggs dipped in SIS gel, they get my support.

Just looked at their website and their 'primal' adventures include distillery tours, sounds pretty epic. Can't help feeling their whole shtick is marketing 'wild' experiences for people who have money but can't be arsed learning how to do stuff for themselves.

WTAF!

What if you happen to be on the same trails as the event by accident. Will there be security pushing you to one side so the runners who have paid don't get slowed down by the 'proles'

I've heard that some highland hunts are pretty expensive to attend so maybe this isn't too different?

I may be interested, how luxurious is the sag wagon?

If they are able to take lots of money off people who clearly have more money than they need then good luck to them. The article said they have run a non competitive event of similar ilk that was very successful so they clearly think they have identified a market.

In other news, people pay over £100 for a watch.

It's not the £15k glamping I object to, just their ****y marketing, but presumably they know their audience.

It seems like an intersection of markets that nobody would be interested in- surely anybody capable or motivated in running 100's of miles in Scotland is not also interested in glamping along the way. But they say they organised it in France and it was really successful so maybe there's a market?

I guess at 15k a ticket they don't need too many to sign up.

For me the planning, preparation and training would be half the fun of running an ultra and so I wouldn't want to outsource all that even if I was that rich anyway.

You get a pre programmed Garmin smart watch included in the price.

Shut up and take my money.

I wouldn’t go near anyone who actually entered this event,

I don't think they want to go near you either, the point is to create an exclusive experience that people who lead exclusive lives can talk about to their exclusive mates.

Presumably your £15k.includes getting someone to run it on your behalf?

It’ll be nice to sit by the Fyre of an evening.

“race like a warrior but recover like a king” 🤮 - do people still say get in the sea”?

I've no doubt that that will attract the very worst human beings on the planet.

Am I the only one thinking that that marketing all has a touch of the Fyre Festival about it?

Fingers crossed 😀

EDIT: Clearly not. Great minds eh @scuttler ?

If you saw that Audi advert with Tom Whatsisface on and were impressed then this is the race for you.

 but do we think this kind of lavishness will attract the number of racers needed?

Are you kidding? I will bet your money it'll be massively oversubscribed.

Are there 40 wealthy blokes* who get a hard on for all that special forces guff out there? I suspect there probably are.

*and it will be blokes.

surely anybody capable or motivated in running 100’s of miles in Scotland

The course looks pretty dull in parts, lots of road.

It would be great if they had cut-offs and runners, sorry, warriors, got eliminated having paid 15k!

Are there 40 wealthy blokes* who get a hard on for all that special forces guff out there? I suspect there probably are.

It's not the 'special forces' market though is it? Special forces don't spent a huge amount of time in uber glamping tents with flower decorations. Sounds like total toss to me but clearly I'm not the target market. And as has been said before I have no desire to spend time around anyone who would want to buy into that.

Credit to the organisers though - if they manage to pick the pockets of 40 wealthy blokes to the tune of £600K then fair play. They'll be earning it on the day mind - imagine being beholden to 40 mega ****s for 4 days?

edit - and the location. Don't get me wrong, I love the highlands but for £15K I'd be wanting to do this in a part of the world much harder to reach - northern Finland or Siberia.

Everythings relative, if they have a business plan that they believe can work then good luck to them.

surely anybody capable or motivated in running 100’s of miles in Scotland is not also interested in glamping along the way.

The longest stage is 34 miles which isn't a huge distance and given that they probably won't have cut-off times could be walked.

It’s not the ‘special forces’ market though is it? Special forces don’t spent a huge amount of time in uber glamping tents with flower decorations.

Yes, but the type of blokes* who do this 'event' will only be going on and on and on and on about the 'Special Forces' bit, and not the scented candles, when they're talking far too loudly about it to the bored looking barmaid of the local wine bar

* and it will be exclusively blokes

t’s not the ‘special forces’ market though is it? Special forces don’t spent a huge amount of time in uber glamping tents with flower decorations

That's not what I meant, they're bigging up the run by special forces thing as part of the marketing. They've also got that Thrudark crowd on board who sell overpriced jackets to middle aged men by saying they're designed by ex SAS.

I'm interested in what 5000 recovery-friendly but Michelin-starred calories a day looks like, though.

This sounds utterly dismal, but fair play to them for sheer comedy value. The running looks delightful, but not really something to "battle" like a "warrior".

Sadly, I suspect each £15K client journey will be paid by the training budget of a banking/accountancy/financial services company to nurture excellence and resilience within their outstanding corporate leadership team going forward.

If I had a spare £15k knocking about I'd spend it on something adventurous like a leg of the Clipper race, not running between posh tents in Scotland.

There are hundreds of thousands of men who will think nothing of spending this much money on this event. These are your proper “Alpha” male types who will fall into broadly

1. self made business cows who are so full of their own BS that they’ll sign up and brag to their mates, who in the back of that, will sign up as “everything” in their lives is a competition.

2. The endless self promotors and influencers who will get their Patreon and crowdfunders to help them get to the entry fee

3. bored millionaires looking for something to do, very similar to group 1 but probably retired.

I reckon that you could fill the entry list 3 times over with no worries. Especially now it’s been on BBC the folk that do get in will be so smug about it to their friends, I’ll bet you could probably fill the next years entry list of the back of it

It's getting all the marketing it needs already, can guarantee anything that pitches at the top and manages it will do ok.
Plenty of rich blokes with little more than money and possessions to show for it, wanting something to show they're not Mr Burns yet.

But it may be a case of

It’ll be nice to sit by the Fyre of an evening.

(very good..)

I’m interested in what 5000 recovery-friendly but Michelin-starred calories a day looks like, though.

Single estate flapjacks with gold leaf

To be fair, if you're paying off the midges individually £15k doesn't go very far.

Are there 40 wealthy blokes* who get a hard on for all that special forces guff out there? I suspect there probably are.

*and it will be blokes.

Having seen pics from a Forces charity event a female 50-something friend attended in the Brecon Beacons, which seemed to be a "sponsored yomp with ex-special forces", there seemed to be quite a few women who were up for it.

there seemed to be quite a few women who were up for it.

You have to admit it's clearly pitched at blokes, the name for a start!

The only women anywhere near that event will be at the nearest Spa Hotel, sexting their tennis coach and dreading him coming back with tales of 'racing like a warrior'

Will there be security pushing you to one side so the runners who have paid don’t get slowed down by the ‘proles’

Unless the £15k includes a pre-event programme of EPO and HGH, I don't think the target market is going to be all that quick...

To be fair, if you’re paying off the midges individually £15k doesn’t go very far.

Jings, I hope they put some money aside for the Cleg and Tick gangs.
Those wee Bar Stewards don't care if you race like a warrior or a warthog.

Is it 1st April? Because it sounds like a joke to me…

I’d rather do this - if I were that kind of guy. Seems a steal at £3kish for 9 days all in when compared. Ok you’ve got to get yourself there, but that won’t cost you the difference:

https://ratraceglaciertoglacier.co.uk/

🤷 struggling to really care.

4 day all inclusive holiday for £4k/day? It's a lot, but probably cheap compared to 4 days in air conditioned luxury prison in wherever desert hell hole dictatorship is fashionable among footballers these days.

I mean, if you added up the training hours, what does doing any marathon event actually cost if you billed it at an hourly rate? 9 months of 15 hours a week at £40/hour IT contractor rates? That's £23k and change to finish mid pack at Mountain Mayhem and have to pitch your own tent. The actuall entry fee is almost irelavent.

Unless the £15k includes a pre-event programme of EPO and HGH, I don’t think the target market is going to be all that quick…

Wouldn't be so sure. Plenty of rich people spend their free time doing sport too. Just look at the winter Olympics, the competitors are more likely to come from Eton/Ivy League/Similar than the school of hard knocks.

Looks a bit fire festival v2. I wonder if like FF it won’t be the actual privileged doing taking part but naive hipster with credit cards, buy now pay later or bank of mum and dad.

Thought half the fun is slumming it for 4 days with no support.

Fyne Festival?

I don't suspect anyone with enough moolah to enter will care what a load of bicyclist middle-managers think about how they choose to spend their hard-earned (hard-inherited) on! And, if you could flog a jogging trip to a couple dozen multi-millionairs (and presumably get the perks of the same food and accommodation), you probably would!

fair play to them I reckon.

wonder if like FF it won’t be the actual privileged doing taking part but naive hipster with credit cards, buy now pay later or bank of mum and dad.

I think we can safely say that if your mum and dad pay £15k for you to go and play for a week you ARE privileged, and even if you are a Hipster with 15K available on c/cards you are pretty privileged.

Wouldn’t be so sure. Plenty of rich people spend their free time doing sport too.

EDIT: nevermind.

Presumably this is for people whose £15k is no more of a loss than the £5 note sitting in my pocket.

How 'bout a STW whip round and enter a random major player from the Full Fat Friday thread?

It comes with seven months of coaching and various expensive toys like the garmin and that I am secretly a ninja commando pretending to be a businessman thrudark clothing.
I suspect they will fill those 40 places easily enough with the sort of person who likes to tell their underlings how alpha male they are and how ironman events and what not are a bit mainstream and common nowadays.

How ’bout a STW whip round and enter a random major player from the Full Fat Friday thread?

I can't speak for any other regular contributors to the Full Fat Friday thread, but I'm seeing the words 'Involuntary Manslaughter' 😉

@thisisnotaspoon – I’ve done a little bit of guiding with a luxury road cycling company in France, that was not really my experience.

Dunno, countering anecdotes with anecdotes, my uncles a former director at both one of the big 3 pharmaceutical compaies and a major oil company, not short of a quid or two and runs marathons for a hobby. Given that once you get out of manual labouring jobs fitness and work are pretty much independent. How can you argue an inverse link beyond inverse snobbery?

Equally I can think of a few forum members who've jetted off to do races in far flung parts of the world which once you add in flights, accomodation, etc etc isn't likely to be a cheap think to do multiple times a year.

@thisisnotaspoon, yeah, fair point, I edited before you'd posted again - I'm not arsed either way really, maybe they'll hoover up all the Strava segments up there.

Seeing how expensive Thrudark kit is the £15k entrance fee would get you a coat and maybe a cap

Dunno, countering anecdotes with anecdotes, my uncles a former director at both one of the big 3 pharmaceutical compaies and a major oil company, not short of a quid or two and runs marathons for a hobby.

A lot of high-ranking people such as company directors fit that bill. High disposable income, not necessarily vast amounts of work - in many cases they do 2 or 3 days a week - which allows them a lot of free time to train and they take pride in their appearance, want to be the sort of fit-looking, adventurous alpha male type so they sign up to these corporate things left right and centre.

I've met a few such people on various guiding jobs. On one event about 10 years ago, there were a lot of folk on top-end Boardman bikes. Turned out they all worked at the same place and they'd all given about £5000 to their PAs, told them to go and buy a bike so the local Halfords had had a run on these expensive Boardmans where they'd normally only expect to sell a couple a year. They were actually nice people but they just expected *everything* done for them.

A few years later, I was told by the event director to partner this one guy, clearly some bigwig who they were trying to impress. Basically, if he punctures, you fix it; if he wants a coffee, you get it.
He was actually a very strong rider (which was why they'd put me with him, I was the only chaperone able to sustain that pace!) He'd got to be that good a rider by having a shedload of money and time, buying expensive bikes and going on "training camps" all over the world, a lot of them run by ex-pros and catering specifically to that market.
Anyway he had a great day and at the end he chatted to the event director and then his massive ****-off Merc picked him up and took him to a local 5* hotel. We were all sleeping in tents...

Next day the Merc dropped him back at the event campsite and he was taken off in the event directors car for a bit.

Compared to the price of a weekends hunting, shooting, fishing, drinking that many of our uber rich pay, this is bang on the money.

Let's hope it keeps bringing some of the money into local, rural economies that would do well to be able to diversify from the hunting, shooting, fishing crowd on lucrative deals like this.

I can see it being oversubscribed and successful.

Good luck to them.

I’m interested in what 5000 recovery-friendly but Michelin-starred calories a day looks like, though.

Mars Bars? After most endurance events anything with sugar in tastes Michelin starred so they aren’t setting the bar high.

Competitors then spend a night in a luxury campsite, followed by a gala dinner with explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

My choice of food after multi day races has depended on how quickly was it available and how quickly could I shovel it in (Whether it had lumpy bits in which I could damage myself on when I fell asleep in it was a secondary concern)

I recently listened to Ranulph reading his book on the radio and didn’t consciously manage more than five minutes so it sounds dire (I’m sure in the flesh he is more interesting but it sounds like one great ‘I am’ talking at lots of others).

Seeing how expensive Thrudark kit is

never heard of them before, so had a google...My, that website is special, is it not?

Oh my, that is special. *puts cheap Oakley sunglasses on*

https://thrudark.com

We live in the age of Space Billionaires in phallic rockets now.
"Ultra Glamping Tuff mudders" seem like peasants by comparison.

It's for wealthy suffers from short man syndrome, we all know people like this, an opportunity to flex their Wallets, Egos and Pec's all at the same time is hard for them to resist...

In other news, people pay over £100 for a watch.

Part of me would like to see someone enter this and Spend the whole weekend sporting a <£10 casio...

How popular will it be? - Doesn't really matter, it only needs to be popular with a specific Niche.

Perhaps this sort of event highlights the broken state of many sports where people like to claim "Wealth isn't a Barrier" when in a lot of instances it very much is...

I recently listened to Ranulph reading his book on the radio and didn’t consciously manage more than five minutes so it sounds dire (I’m sure in the flesh he is more interesting but it sounds like one great ‘I am’ talking at lots of others).

He's an excellent public speaker, I've been to a few of his talks. Clearly very practiced at it, he knows his slides inside out, he's got his timings and his patter absolutely dialled.
He is quite funny with it though, a lot of self-deprecation, dry humour and witty asides.

My choice of food after multi day races has depended on how quickly was it available and how quickly could I shovel it in

I'm sure our 16-course 'tasting menu' will tempt you. Our sommelier has the appropriate vintages to accompany.

This has created a job opportunity for you peasants. I have entered it and am willing to provide honest employment for 18 of you urchins in total. You will take it in turns to carry my rickshaw over the course; in return I will provide you with a silver penny each day and an excellent reference.

Oh my, that is special.

Wow! Never heard of Thrudark either but now I really fancy a 60 quid 'Dogs of War' T-shirt so everyone in the pub will think I'm a globe-trotting international mercenary, fresh back from rescuing hostages in the middle east or starting a military coup in Africa, just for shits and giggles after finishing my career in the SAS (Super Army Soldier)

Oh my, that is special.

I particularly like possibly because its the only thing in my budget range the way the marketing for the socks indicate they are for stamping on the heads of fallen foes whilst shouting no quarter. Something I hadnt thought I had needed before but now it is clear.

I love the Thrudark, everything has a union flag on it, british special forces designed, rule britania, british everything is the best and most fighty and manly ...but made in portugal

clothes for utter, utter Walts

If I was a sponsor of athlete's I would get an ultra marathon runner to do the same course & get them more exposure to utterly humiliate every single entrant

@crazy-legs
I've been tail end charlie for one of those sorts of events, one guy was reputed to be worth £100m & another had done the 3 peeks (everest, North & South poles) all arrived by private jet, all reasonably nice but generally had no comprehension of other people's lives. I was doing it as a favour to a mate who ran the event, in the end I got tipped more in that week than I earn in my day job. Shame I only did it the once 😕

Oh my, that is special. *puts cheap Oakley sunglasses on*

https://thrudark.com/blockquote >

There is a missed opportunity for a STW discount code.....

 

Got to admire the sas/sbs guys behind thrudark for tapping into that Walt market

never heard of them before, so had a google…My, that website is special, is it not?

I'm pretty sure I first heard about them on here, someone was talking about getting one of their jackets for hill walking and didn't like the general consensus that they could get something that would do the job better for a fraction of the cost.

Compared to the price of a weekends hunting, shooting, fishing, drinking that many of our uber rich pay, this is bang on the money.

Let’s hope it keeps bringing some of the money into local, rural economies that would do well to be able to diversify from the hunting, shooting, fishing crowd on lucrative deals like this.

I can see it being oversubscribed and successful.

Good luck to them.

this.

Also, it is quite entertaining reading a load of people with multiple 4, 5, £6,000+ bikes decrying anyone who might want to spend equivalent money on something else a stupid alpha male.

And for another alternative use of cash, it is possible to book 1 week of accommodation (just accommodation - nothing else included) at Center Parks for £10,000.

If you have 25k+ social media followers you can join 'The Brotherhood'

https://thrudark.com/brotherhood-affiliate/

They don't send out marketing emails, they send out 'Intel'.

😆

I especially love that the mouse turns into crosshairs...

And for another alternative use of cash, it is possible to book 1 week of accommodation (just accommodation – nothing else included) at Center Parks for £10,000.

Lots of things are theoretically possible, but it doesn't mean any sane human being is ever going to do it, does it? 😀

True about Center Parcs...we'd booked to go in October last year - I got a discount price offer so got some slightly uprated lodge for less than the usual basic lodge price. Anyway, 3 days before arrival got a call to say the lodge was unavailable and would I mind a complimentary upgrade.

Upgraded to an executive lodge with games room and sauna - was amazingly good.

Clearly spoilt after that I went to see if they had any offers to upgrade the summer holiday booking to something similar - was offered a 'deal' of £3k to pay then to get similar for the summer holiday.

Properly burst my bubble then! Hahaha

Lots of things are theoretically possible, but it doesn’t mean any sane human being is ever going to do it, does it? 😀

Couldn't comment on the sanity of those making the bookings but the 'Treehouse' accommodation option at Longleat (£9,898 for seven nights from 12th August 2022) is fully booked for most of this year and a lot of next year!!