Sporting Scouter

The race website is the worst place to decide whether to do a race. It's also where almost everyone decides.

Here's the thing: that site is a sales page. It's not going to tell you the aid stations ran dry last year, or that the shuttle to the start never showed. So I look everywhere else first — last year's results, the one-star reviews, a maps app for the real travel cost.

Wrote up the whole method this week. Works the same for a marathon, a tri, or a Hyrox:
https://sportingscouter.substack.com/p/the-worst-place-to-pick-a-race-is-its-website

He trained for UTMB on a cruise ship — treadmills, stairwells, no trails — and finished second.

24 million race decisions a year made on the organizer's own marketing
He built world-class ultra fitness with ship treadmills and stairwells
Heat adaptation takes two weeks minimum — most athletes give it one

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You don't trust the race website.

You text someone who did it last year. The teammate whose word you'd take over any finish-line photo. "Is it worth it?" That answer is the most reliable thing in sport — and it dies in your group chat.

Sporting Scouter is building the place it lives. Verified reviews from athletes who actually showed up. Running, triathlon, swimming, OCR, BJJ — all of it.

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