I woke up to an email this morning.
A ‘congratulations!!’ email. Not one where I won a trip. In fact, not one where I won anything at all.
But it WAS a congratulations email. A congratulations email where I was ranked 16th in Canada for 2024 based on ITRA’s metrics. That is to say, via my participation in Quebec based trail running events, and Nationals last year.
For the unfamiliar, ITRA is one of the three main/semi-trusted ranking and scoring systems in trail running. It is used as supporting evidence more than the other two (UTMB and Ultrasignup) when athletes fill out elite entry applications, and therefore holds a semi-small importance in the sport.
For the extra unfamiliar, I’ve written a post that explains more into ranking systems in trail running and why they’re so freaking weird.
Here are three images of raccoons dabbing.
Trail running rankings are even weirder than this.
But for all intents and purposes, ITRA has the potential to be the best one. It just draws on a very small pool of races.
In Canada, the majority of ‘ITRA National League’ races are in Quebec. The ones currently listed for 2025 include the Squamish 50K, four Quebec races, and one lonely Maritimes race. Therefore, when I opened the email, I already knew where the ranking would be skewed.
& fortune tellings be true. Only four of the top twenty men listed live outside of Quebec. Myself, Mitchell Valic, Shaun Stephens Whale, and #1 holder Alex Ricard. That’s a bit odd isn’t it? If you are going to advertise it as some sort of indication of talent, maybe it should involve a greater spread of races? Silly silly.
I get that races self-declare themselves to ITRA. I get even more that it’s trying to incentivize runners to race in their own country. That’s a great thing for supporting local races, leaving a positive carbon footprint, and seeing lots of local raccoons dabbing.
But if it’s going to be your only ranking – maybe the spread of races should include an even greater scope to just your own country? Perhaps performances completed by continent? Or maybe adding another ranking for performances around the world?
To have any ranking where Elhousine Elazzaoui isn’t the top Moroccan (or runner for that matter in 2024) is just simply silly. Silly silly.
I can only think of two countries (France and the U.S.) where you could earn anything in the sport (money, acclaim, sponsors, etc.) by just doing races in your own country.
Not that those superficial things are what matter. But outside of those two countries, the majority of professional athletes will prioritize racing outside of their own country to get the best competition. So this kind of thing, if anyone cared, would only encourage over-racing.
But just like my article ‘UTMB Indexes are so freaking weird‘, that’s only where half of the apple falls from the tree.
To my greatest shock of all, listed at #20 and #21 – my friends Jade Belzberg and Élisa Morin. The two women had better years than anyone in Canada.
I had the pleasure of running alongside both at the Squamish 50K in 2024, and I can tell you that without fail, they are so much more talented than I will ever be.
Here’s a highlight reel where I’m accidently in the way of their camera shots.
I get that you have one ranking for women and one for men. But then why have an overall ranking combining the two? Even more – why are ITRA and UTMB both so heavily skewed in favour of men when combining the two?
Jade smashed a long-standing Ellie Greenwood record at Squamish, then flew over to Quebec to finish second in both races at Défi Des Couleurs, behind only Élisa. Meanwhile, Élisa finished second to Jade at Squamish, then won both the Up-Down and Vertical race at Nationals for Mountain running.
Not to forget third place Geneviève Asselin-Demers, who crushed it on the World Trail Majors this year – including a super impressive sixth placed finish at the Black Canyon 100K, followed later by a win in the QMT 50-Mile.
How I would love to some day finish sixth at Black Canyon and win the QMT 50-Mile. It would be a dream. But when you’re dreaming, you eventually wake up to reality.
And I know all three of them probably don’t care whatsoever about this. But I do.
Because you’re telling me that my 2024 year, including a 7th and 11th at Canada’s two biggest competitions, is better than theirs?
Nuh uh! Silly silly.
I’m probably barking up the wrong apple tree. Especially as apples fall around silly old me. But I will never understand why a record on the men’s side at Squamish is worth so much more on ITRA than an equally impressive record smash on the women’s side.
Why is Joyline Chepngeno’s record smash at Sierre Zinal so much less impressive than Kilian Jornet’s? It’s not.
Is part of it on race organizers? Do they now have to ensure two separate start times – like most Golden Trail races?
Or should ITRA and UTMB adapt their scoring systems to be less about overall place on a finishing list, and more comparable to who each competitor is actually racing against?
ITRA and UTMB could use the same scoring ‘logic’ they apply to men, and simply just attach that same value to the women’s field. We can even have separate scoring systems that celebrate the successes of athletes in all genders, giving the proper amount of weight to each athlete based on their range of classifications.
I’m sure all of this is trivial and does not matter. But the list of names isn’t totally terrible. It’s evidently Quebec skewed, and missing most of the best BC athletes. But it could have been used as a way for athletes to have supporting evidence on future elite athlete applications.
Just not when the top three women are ranked #20, 21 and 26. That’s just silly. Silly, silly, silly.
ITRA Indexes, you are so silly.
Rhys Desmond 