They're not adding the extra obstacles to jump over either.
It's no brainer to come up with unfinishable course to "test the limits".
Just add extra hill here and there, keep same time limit and call it a day with "mountains won!" statement.
Granted, this approach has it's own passionate followers and so it runs!
Same sentiment; I'm really wondering how they managed to find 60kft of gain in (at best) hilly Tennessee. Then again, if you find a steep enough hill and run up and down it enough times (which it sounds like they do), I guess that would do it.
While I've no doubt this is a very difficult challenge, it seems contrived, and the comparisons to things like Everest are flippant. For one thing, you don't have to contend with the extreme weather of Everest, or the lack of oxygen, which you won't even get anywhere near because you never actually get anywhere near 8kft in altitude. Cross country hiking through brush? Yeah, I can do that; I avoid it when possible because that's not my idea of a good time and there are more interesting challenges.
However, the orgranisers can alter its route. So technically, they could change the route accordingly.