Can't remember if there is a waiver or not for Meteor, haven't been in a couple years. If not, probably just run at your own risk, just a bunch of peeps out sledding. Or maybe they have insurance for the event, one time per year. You need insurance, prize money, sponsors, techs, organization, entry fees, security, etc etc. So much more to it than just riding. Not a lot of mainstream exposure in hillclimbing for sponsors, overall its a very small demographic to play to, even though we think it would be big. The spectator venue is tough, its not like you can sit in one spot and see the action close up the entire time.
For the BCSF events, lots of times you needed a sled to get to the hill. Now you need a huge parking area for all the trailers, etc. Boulder, the BIS and the Big Dawg were probably the best venues for that event that I have ever seen, but with the big crowds comes big issues (riding in closed areas, garbage, drinking/drugs, parking, etc). All it would take is one runaway sled at an event to hit someone and you have a huge liability. Lots of companies are so risk-adverse they will not touch it. No organizer wants to be held personally liable either. Tethers became mandatory in the pits because of all the runaway sleds falling off warm up stands and stuck throttles.
As Amy said, driving 8 hrs or more, to race every 2nd weekend gets old.
