It’s been 48 hours since the competitive downhill running circuit exploded in controversy with the unsanctioned nighttime run of Nathan Boles at Indian Lake. Boles, ranked 6th in the world, was delayed entry at the border because his credentials were seemingly out of order, and ended up arriving 10 hours too late for the Inaugural Ironspoke Scramble at the Lake.
His unverified time of 8.8 seconds is four seconds faster than the winning time posted by Sven Johanson. Boles’ personal assistant and masseuse witnessed the run and posted the video online which has gone viral. The story has been mentioned by Logan Paul, Mr. Beast and Charlamagne the God. The competitive downhill running circuit has seemingly moved from one bad PR situation to another, and this latest controversy is just the most recent in a string of unfortunate events.
Boles spoke with a representative from Runners World and commented, “I mean Sven is a good runner and I’ve nothing but respect for the guy, but the reality is I beat his ass. Four seconds is huge. If the field was as large as what he had last month at Innsbrook, he would have finished thirty places behind me.”
And earlier this morning CNN 8 business reported that Boles had filed a lawsuit against the TSA, but at approximately 5pm the story was taken down. An effort was made to reach a representative from CNN 8, but was unsuccessful.
Johanson for his part has made repeated statements across multiple platforms that he will gladly race Boles at a pre-determined place and time, but the matter of the Inaugural Ironspoke Scramble at the Lake is closed. And that would include by inference the $35,000 in prize money.