The news about Katie Brazelton giving her Leadville 100 entry to Wendy Lyall and both of them being charged with criminal impersonation has spread outside of the mountain bike world. There a good post on the Ex-Pat Ex-Lawyer blog with what lead up to the charges.
In a letter to the Lake County Sheriff, Leadville 100 organizer Ken Chlouber asked for prosecution on theft of services for the $250 in race fees, $225 in awards, plus racer services, including aid stations, security, and a pre-race banquet. That would be much less severe than the criminal impersonation felony that DA Hurlbert charged them with. It seems that Katie Brazelton may have already lost her job over the incident.
As I said I think that cheating to get into the race is serious but worse in this case because of Wendy finishing 2nd in Katie’s age group. Still being charged with a felony is overblown for something like this.
Some people are complaining that Ken doesn’t enforce his rules consistently. We own an old mining claim in Lake County close to Leadville and we always say it’s still the wild, wild west there. It’s not just that Ken runs the Leadville 100 that way. Even so about 10 times as many people wanted to do the race this year as are allowed in.
The Leadville 100 entry lottery isn’t totally a lottery. Some number of riders appear to get picked and the rest get drawn in the lottery. I know riders that have used a friend’s address in Leadville so they’d get picked. Leadville is small enough that Ken and whoever else does the preferred picking probably know when that is the case but the riders have still gotten into the race.
– UltraRob
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Tags: Katie Brazelton, Lance Armstrong, Leadville 100, Mark Hurlbert, Mountain Bike, Wendy Lyall
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Hey UltraRob,
It seems to me that breaking race rules (and then accepting a race prize!) has nothing to do with the LT100 lottery being a “pure” lottery where everyone is subject to it or one where some people are allowed to bypass it.
The race organizer should be able to allow certain participants to register without entering the lottery. It is a private event, after all.
Cheers,
Carlos
Carlos, I agree about the lottery. Putting down an address doesn’t mean that’s where you live. At least it’s always been that locals get into the race but they can also not accept a “local entry” when they don’t know that they’re truly local.
One comment I saw also said that other people have given their entry to someone else and Ken knew about it. I don’t know how recent that was and it seems they’ve gotten much more strict on check-in procedures since Lance started racing it.
When you have a race where it seems that maybe 10,000 or more people are getting denied entry, you’re going to have some grumbling about things not being fair. At least as far as entering there’s nothing that says it has to be fair.
Carlos,
You made the whole case for the cheaters in one statement, “It is a private event, after all.” Why public prosecution over something so ridiculous that is going to have lasting and profound effects in the two ladies lives? Ken is a complete tool for taking this to the Nth degree.
Hi David,
Well, misrepresentation/cheating that has an economic cost is a big deal. But I agree that one thing is how the LT100 seeks resolution versus criminalizing the ladie’s actions.
In my opinion the prosecutor is going too far, but that does not mean that they should not be responsible for their actions.
IMHO, the fact that it is a private event reinforces Ken’s discretionary actions, it does not minimize the offender’s responsibilities.
Sincerely,
carlos
[…] More On Leadville 100 Felony Charges Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Entry eBay Auction Leadville 100, Mountain Bike | UltraRob | Friday, […]
[…] More On Leadville 100 Felony Charges By Ultra Rob May 13th, 2010 The news about Katie Brazelton giving her Leadville 100 entry to Wendy Lyall and both of them being charged with criminal impersonation has spread outside of the mountain bike world. There a good post on the Ex-Pat Ex-Lawyer blog with what lead up to the charges. In a letter to the Lake County Sheriff, Leadville 100 organizer Ken Chlouber asked for prosecution on theft of services for the $250 in race fees, $225 in awards, plus racer services, including aid stations, security, and a pre-race banquet. That would be much less severe than the criminal impersonation felony that DA Hurlbert charged them with. It seems that Katie Brazelton may have already lost her job over the incident. […]
[…] Update 5/13/10: More On Leadville 100 Felony Charges […]
ken, with a small w, is at best a petty tyrant. A tool is actually sometimes
useful.
MB
[…] and run driver has a high paying job. Hulbert is the DA that didn’t have a problem charging Katie Brazelton and Wendy Lyall with felonies last spring because Wendy raced with Katie’s Leadville 100 entry in 2009. Both of them lost […]
don’t you people have something better to do with your time! Who cares about a stupid bike race? geee, to press charges is extreme, I guess the party crashers at posh hollywood affairs should suffer the same? Too stupid to waste any time…