The dust still hasn’t settled after the inaugural Arizona Monster 300, and neither has the backlash.
Following our original reporting on runner complaints about missing food, unmarked trails, and disorganized aid stations, a new Reddit thread from an aid station captain has added disturbing new details to the unfolding controversy.
In a widely upvoted post, the volunteer—posting as “ordinaryredditlurker”—shared a firsthand account from one of the early aid stations at the race.
Their story confirms many of the concerns runners and crew raised, but adds even more: human waste handling, equipment shortages, and a near-total lack of professional oversight.
“We had no-show volunteers day of, skeleton crew, broken equipment, inadequate chairs, blankets, tents. Nearly ran out of coke and water, but my team managed to run to get supplies from the nearest town to prevent that.”
Despite operating with minimal resources and no sleep, they say their crew made it work out of sheer dedication to the runners. “Overall, all ended well with my aid station,” they wrote, “but god damn, never again.”
I was an aid station captain at AZ Monster this weekend
byu/ordinaryredditlurker inUltramarathon
Volunteers Asked to Handle Human Waste
Perhaps the most shocking detail: volunteers weren’t just short-staffed—they were asked to manage human waste.
“As aid station captain, they expected me to clean up after the runners pooping and peeing into a bucket,” the Redditor wrote. “This was among the worst of all the responsibilities that were way above my pay grade (which was $0—I’m a volunteer).”
The setup involved a “lugaloo,” a backcountry toilet bucket system where runners were expected to use single-use liners.
In theory, it’s a workaround for remote events. In practice, it turned into a sanitation nightmare.
“Runners either don’t know how to properly use it or are too tired to tie their own bag,” they said. “The expectation was they all go into the same bag/bucket until it’s full. Then I, as captain, empty that bucket out.”
Other users chimed in with concern. “This is f***ing gross,” one person replied. “I hope there are separate people responsible for handling aid station food and human waste.”
The volunteer confirmed they were also prepping food.
“I thoroughly washed my hands after every time I needed to deal with the buckets,” they said. “But this is wildly unhygienic and dangerous from a biowaste handling perspective.”
High Cost, Low Oversight
The race charged $2,300 for registration this year—already steep by ultramarathon standards. But after this year’s controversy, next year’s price has jumped to $2,800.
Volunteers say they received no pay and minimal support, and many have since sworn off working with Destination Trail again.
“They were already asking me if I wanted to run it myself in 2026,” the OP wrote. “Which I do appreciate… but after what I saw, why would I want to?”
One Tucson-based commenter put it bluntly: “She has zero ties to the running community here. The runner community in Tucson is pissed that she had this scale of a race here.”
Long Pacer Sections and Safety Risks
Runners and crew also highlighted what they saw as unsafe pacing guidelines.
“There were 40- and 60-mile sections without a pacer swap,” one commenter said. “That’s beyond unsafe and also unnecessary.”
While some of the spacing may have been dictated by permitting limits, critics argue those factors should have influenced course design more heavily from the start.
“This should’ve been taken into more consideration while planning the event,” one user wrote. “The route was changed multiple times… it puts runners and pacers at high risk of heat exhaustion, dehydration, and lack of proper fueling.”
Despite the criticism, some runners continued to push through: “This heat is wicked,” a commenter wrote, “but she’ll finish just to spite it all.”
A Culture of Burnout
The volunteer culture around Destination Trail races is increasingly being questioned—not just for Arizona Monster, but for long-standing events like Moab 240 and Tahoe 200.
One Redditor put it this way: “I feel almost brainwashed because this sounds almost exactly like every single year for the Moab 240… under-resourced, overworked… but for some reason, I keep coming back.”
Others say they’ve had enough.
“You’re the captain, you deal with the bucket!” one user recalled being told at a past event. “Yet the cult of Candice only grows.”
Another summed up the underlying problem: “This model allows for opportunists to pressure people into free labor.”
Questions of Growth and Sustainability
There’s also growing skepticism over how sustainable these races are at their current size. Some longtime DT participants say earlier events with smaller fields—150 to 200 runners—ran much more smoothly.
“With 300–350 runners now, it just isn’t the same value from an experience standpoint,” one runner said. “Volunteer numbers haven’t gone up the same way.”
Others say the early races felt like something special.
“Candice personally greeted every single finisher,” one user reminisced. “She poured her heart and soul into making that dream a reality. It wasn’t perfect—but it was passion-driven.”
Now, many believe that passion has given way to scale and profit.
“It feels much more commercially motivated,” they wrote. “Less about runners, more about how the accomplishment will be received as an Instagram post.”
What Comes Next?
Despite the backlash, Destination Trail already has registration open for the 2026 Arizona Monster—and they’re actively promoting it.
As of this writing, there’s been no formal response from Candice Burt or DT addressing the sanitation complaints, volunteer shortages, or broader concerns about race safety.
Many in the community are urging runners to reconsider supporting the event.
“Volunteers are a really important pressure point,” one user wrote. “If enough of them walk away, these races either change or shut down.”
The aid station captain who kicked off the latest round of whistleblowing ended their post with a heartfelt message to runners and fellow volunteers:
“Much love to all my fellow volunteers and the runners who were and are out there. Y’all are the only thing that made this a great experience for me. We should all be thinking of them and wishing them lots of luck and safety.”
