Sunday 072510 Burro Racing Championships

29 miles, 3300 feet of climbing.  From Fairplay to Mosquito Pass and back in the Burro Days World Championships.  4th in 6:31.

Week was 111 miles, 18.5 hours.  255 miles on over 40.75 hours in July. 2379 miles over 377 hours on the year.

Let’s see … lots to say about the Burro World Championships today, but in short, if you are interested, this is much more about how effective you are in keeping your burro moving than actual running.

I got into town around 7:45, and Justin arrived shortly thereafter.  Bill had also arrived, but around 1:30 last night and hence was still asleep in his truck.  Justin and I wandered Front Street, yapping about recent racing results.  We swung back around 8:15 and started set up in full swing.

Unlike a typical warm up, the warm up for these events are all about the donkey.  You comb it out, you set up the saddle, you do weigh in of the saddle, you make sure your gear on the donkey then is set, you play with the saddle some more and make sure the donkey is watered.  I got a lot of help from Bill, Justin and my family.  Very much in debt and thanks to all of them.

And hour and a half later, we wandered over to the start, which was now full of folks out for the event.  Actually, this might have been the deepest start crowd field I have seen in quite a bit.  They introduced every runner and burro, and the crowd stretched several blocks a few folks deep.  Skatona made an appearance at the start and it was good to see him.  Lots of people and

Admittedly, I was nervous.  I’d be nervous for any run in the mountains over 20 miles, but this was with an animal that I barely knew, and around a bunch of other animals I had no clue about.

And then we were off.  I had no intention of flying out of town, but Jack flew off the front.  I looked to my left and Justin was right there with Mr. Ziffel.  We led the race out of town down into South Park City.  By the end of South Park City (the historical city museum) however, the lead was exchanged to others and I was fine with that.

Off the back end of South Park Museum, we dropped quickly into the South Platte tributary valley and there was a good amount of confusion.  The burros were fired up, read to go and roll and the runners were also willing to move with that.  But there were several paths in the reeds and weeds around the river and so people started going different ways.  Then Justin’s saddle fell right off Mr. Ziffel.  I heard Bill yell to some of us - “YOU ARE OFF THE COURSE!  IT IS OVER HERE!”  We converged back up into the course over the next minute or so and started heading north.

Things settled down, and I could see I was about 200 yards off the lead and probably in tenth place.  Everyone was running, but pretty easily and slowly.  I began to work my way up, but reminded myself that I had a LONG way to go, and I really had no idea what the hell I was doing.

By the Mosquito Pass Road (5 miles?) I had bridged the gap to the leaders and settled in just behind them, content to be there.  Over the next mile, I shared some words with each of the leader group and everyone was really friendly.  Shortly after that, as we headed to Park City, I found myself in the lead.  The running was easy, controlled and Jack seemed to be responsive to all of it.  For a moment, I entertained, that thought.  Really?  Could I contend in this thing?  Wow.

But just as we passed through the steeper stuff out of Park City, Jack came to a halt.  A complete halt.  I could not get him to move.  I watched the three other leaders go.  And I sat there for about 10 minutes.  And any thoughts I had of such contention, slipped away.  I kept trying to get Jack to move, but it was slow, difficult, and frustrating to some degree.  We had been clipping along well, and now I could see the next runner coming up.  And the next! 

The next runner was Hal, with his burro Laredo, a multiple winner here.  He passed, but then he also was struggling with his burro with some of the same issues.  We went back and forth.  One burro would run, pass the other and then stop and walk.  Then vice versa.  And then they would both walk.  Hal and I tried to get the burros to work together, with some modicum of success as we climbed out of town, onto American Flats.  We got word that the leaders were 15 minutes ahead.  I could tell from the GPS that we had lost that time in just about 2 miles.

As we climbed American Flats, Kevin and his burro Pardner caught us.  This was mostly a hike.  I could see the three leaders making the long traverse to Mosquito Pass – and while we were all eager to run, our burros would have none of it.

We kept trying to move however, hoping to catch those in front of us, make ground on those behind us, and trying to beat the mid day thunderstorms.

So up we went.  We hit Mosquito and started the run down.  It became clear to me that I really did not want to end up in a burro sprint with Hal and Kevan – two cagey veterans of this event, and so I kept trying to stage a break away.  But it would not happen.  I’d get a small lead and Jack would halt, purposely waiting for the others and then falling behind them, passing them and then repeating the whole process.  This happened at least a dozen times and I began to wonder if I would be able to break away.

Then, just below the fork with about nine miles to go, (the split to Mosquito Pass versus American Flats), Jack started a nice 7 minute mile trot.  I took advantage, expecting it to dry up like the others, but …it kept going for at least a bit.  I could see Kevin and Hal, walking behind and hoped this was the break I would get to avoid the sprint in town. 

Soon, I could look back and could not see them but still was not confident that I was done with them.  After a good long stretch, Jack would get distracted – with cars, parties at house, bikers, ATVs and we’d walk for a bit, but inevitably we’d get back to a 8 – 10 minute mile jog down the Mosquito Pass road.  On the way down, I saw JT, who handed me a PBR – and it tasted damn damn damn good.

Once off the Mosquito Pass Road, things got really challenging.  It started to rain.  Jack wanted to eat all the grasses and not go.  And the trail was often sketchy and hard to find.  We made fair time, but then, just before town, I got totally turned around in those same weeds and reeds that had us all confused at the start.  I got a little frantic, concerned that I’d loose fourth because I had lost the trail – with only 3/4 of a mile left to go to town.  Jack and I pushed through some tough stuff there – and my legs are pretty scratched up because of it, but we came back up into town and were able to finish the race.

The post race festivities were good food in the Hand Hotel restaurant, and I enjoyed a meal with JM, my in laws and my son.

I am pretty sure I will come back.  Tons of thanks to Bill for getting me going with a burro and teaching me the basics,, Cody and Corey for all the croo help today, Justin for the encouragement and actually kicking me in the ass to make this happen, my family for their support, love, laughter, and helping me do this today and everyone else for all the help today.

A few pix … more to come in the next day or two.