Introduction
During the Black Canyon 100K, it was reported to Aravaipa that Ferdinand Airault had been off course and received outside aid during the race. Our team gathered information on race day and made a decision on Sunday of race weekend to assess a 20 minute time penalty for this athlete who had gone off course in between Bumble Bee Ranch & Gloriana Mine near mile 20. This was communicated without protest to the athlete and 20 minutes was added to his finishing time. This moved him from 10th to 14th place.
Earlier today (May 23, 2025) this post accused Ferdinand of cheating at Black Canyon (& potentially also Canyons 100 Mile) and also bringing up a discrepancy in Aravaipa’s race rules and the ultimate penalty enforced. While we feel we took appropriate actions back in February and at the time did not believe a public statement was needed, we feel a full breakdown of our decision making process is warranted in light of these accusations.
In an effort for authentic transparency surrounding the assessed 20 minute time penalty at the 2025 Black Canyon 100K, I felt it would be important to share from Aravaipa Running’s perspective how we came to this decision. We very much uphold the ideals of fairness in sport especially for races that have more than a trophy on the line (such as a Golden Ticket Race) but also grace for the humans that participate in our events.
I also feel it is a good point to illustrate how we approach things like this and the lengths we go to in order to come up with a fair decision after speaking to as many stakeholders as possible. Our Race Director Jubilee Paige in this situation did a fair job of assessing the situation, finding out facts and coming up with a decision all while the rest of the 100K was still taking place. This is of course the job of any RD, but a look into the process could be helpful.
We also realize that we are part of the broader sport and it is always good to receive feedback on the decisions we make to gauge the health of the sport. We realize we may make decisions in our own echo chamber and a “gut check” from the community is vital for us to know if we are on track. If you are interested in providing us feedback on this situation or our process we welcome it (we recommend reading this entire post before accessing the form): Feedback Form
Setting The Stage
Ferdinand Airault is a member of the Aravaipa Racing Team (since 2023), raced Black Canyon 100K in 2024 (placed 12th in 8:10:38) and again this year in 2025 (placed 14th in 8:14:27 after penalty). He also recently won the Canyons 100 Mile in 16:18:13.
Ferdinand came through the Bumble Bee Ranch Aid station at mile 19.2 this year and was met by his crew (his wife). In this aid station exchange, he dropped his bottles, was provided nutrition & ice, but left without any water bottles or fluids. Shortly thereafter (1 mile after the aid), he missed a turn while crossing a dirt jeep road and ran off course (off the Black Canyon Trail singletrack and instead ran down the dirt road).
The Course Cut
Ferdinand ran down this dirt jeep road for 0.28 miles then joined the main Crown King Road which crews drive on to/from Bumble Bee Ranch. He briefly saw a sheriff to ask if he was on track, which the sheriff said he was. He continued another 0.27 miles (for a total of 0.55 miles off course) where he stopped to assess where he was. According to race rules and arguably the spirit of the sport, he should have returned to the point that he departed the official race course, rejoined the Black Canyon Trail and then continued on – the time spent off course being the build in time penalty.
In this instance, Ferdinand did violate our race rule by not retracing his steps, but instead cutting up from the road back to the Black Canyon Trail. He initially left the course at approximately 2:22:21 elapsed and rejoined the trail at 2:27:07 which was a total of 4 minutes 46 seconds off course. He covered a total of 0.61 miles off course. Had he stayed on the actual trail he would have traversed 0.64 miles.
Aravaipa decided to impose a 20 minute time penalty for this. Part of which to make up for him needing to retrace his steps back to the point he left and part for cutting across the desert to regain the correct trail.
We realize in the runner guide and in the runner briefing, our race director noted that this race is a “closed course” and deviance will result in a disqualification. Aravaipa decided after review of this situation that a time penalty for the course deviance was the proper penalty for the infraction. We realize we likely need more nuance in this rule and have since updated the language for future editions that time penalties or disqualifications may be enacted at the discretion of race management to allow for nuance and an assessment on the situation.
We do not believe the course cut was malicious in this situation and was part of the reason we came to the decision we did. We do believe there is more education and clarity required for this type of situation in the future. We hope that in the future when athletes (of any speed) determine/learn they are off course that they first think “I must retrace my steps back to the point that I left the course” instead of “I am going to cut across to get back on course as quickly as possible”.
The Unauthorized Aid
It was reported to Aravaipa that Ferdinand received unauthorized aid outside the Gloriana Mine Aid Station. This aid station is not accessible by crews due to its location at the Gloriana Trailhead just off the paved Crown King Road near the I-17 freeway. There is no room for parking here other than for aid station volunteers, staff & select media (typically livestream). In order to provide a safe runner experience we don’t have room for crew.
Ferdinand confirmed that Cyril Garcia, a friend and fellow 100K runner DNF’d at Bumble Bee Ranch and joined Ferdinand’s wife for a ride to Deep Canyon Ranch. Ferdinand’s crew (wife and now Cyril) was in contact with an Aravaipa staff member at Bumble Bee Ranch upon learning that he left the Bumble Bee Ranch Aid Station without his bottles and not having any fluid on him for the upcoming 12.5 mile section to Deep Canyon Ranch (next crewable aid). They tried to find a solution to rectify this. They were in contact with an Aravaipa staff member who advised that Gloriana was a non-crewable aid, but maybe they could contact the aid volunteers to see about dropping off a bottle (we later found this out – which is not necessarily standard protocol).
Their crew decided to attempt to give a bottle to Ferdinand, which was noticed by a fellow competitor (Scott Traer) who advised and reminded them this is a non-crew aid and he cannot receive anything from them.
It is under our understanding that Ferdinand took the bottle from Cyril shortly before Gloriana but according to Ferdinand ultimately did not drink from the bottle and left it at the aid. He did not depart Gloriana Mine Aid Station with anything received from his crew in this section and ran the full length of the 7.9 mile stretch from Gloriana to Deep Canyon without supplemental fluids. This was corroborated by a livestream field reporter at the exit to Gloriana Mine Aid who even mentioned so on air.
Aravaipa determined that Ferdinand ultimately refusing the attempted aid (whether on his own accord or due to the notification by the Scott) was a show of good faith he wasn’t intending to cheat here and that him traversing the stretch between the aid stations with no bottles or fluids was a penalty in and of itself in this situation. We did not assess an additional time penalty or DQ him.
Ferdinand contacted multiple staff members on race day during the race to alert them to these actions and to find out if he should stop or continue. He was advised to continue on and any decisions would be made when more information was received.
Conclusion
While we realize at first glance Aravaipa may have enforced a penalty in more of a gray area for these rule violations, we did what we felt was right in this situation. This has given us a chance to take a look at our rules and adjust so that they are not completely black and white as situations rarely are. There are many unknown situations that arise in the sport and we prefer to act with nuance and grace.
We want to thank Scott for raising these concerns to Aravaipa on race day as well as continuing to follow up and ensure that our sport is held to a high standard. We welcome the dialogue and will continue to assess the language and clarity of our rules as well as rule enforcement going forward.
Aravaipa was in correspondence with Scott throughout race weekend & our race director sent a written follow up on our final decision by email on Tuesday, February 11 which contained a summary of what happened after our due diligence for each situation as well as how we came up with our decision.
If you would like to send us feedback on this please do so here: Feedback Form or you may contact myself directly Jamil at AravaipaRunning.com
Jamil Coury
Aravaipa Running
Founder