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Trapped
If sport seeks to matter by giving the arena what it wants, then the marketable format, with its thirst for success at any cost, is what it will get.
Most of the activities I like – from climbing to cycling and running – have dovetailed into competitive packages.
The beauty of these activities is a liberating sense of movement. The daily run is a small journey. If you decided to run to some distant place, stringing it up as a series of daily small runs, it becomes a journey in the real sense. The same is true of climbing, which can expand to mountaineering expedition or cycling, which can stretch to long trips. But we ask: who is the best? That calls for test. Often, test is engaging spectacle. We make a business of quarantining people and sell the circus. Games suffer less by this. Not so, free-spirited activities that are boxed into game format. Does the virtuous compromise – activity as “event” – indicate a bright future for the likes of running and climbing?
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