BURRO RACES
Each person has his/her own "highlight" of Boom Days --
maybe it's the crafts, the costumes, the boardwalk, the rodeo, the
mining contests, the music and other entertainment, the rod and gun
show, or other weekend events. For me, the highlight of Boom Days is the
burro racing.
It's hard enough to run twenty-one miles in the
oxygen-starved mountains around Leadville, especially when you have to
climb from 10,200 feet in town up to Mosquito Pass
at 13,187 feet. Try doing it with a burro-with-a-mind-of-its-own on the
end of a fifteen-foot rope!
The sport of pack-burro racing began in this area in
1949 with a twenty-three mile race over Mosquito Pass between the little
towns of Leadville and Fairplay. Women joined in the race two years
later and started having their own separate race in 1955.
At first, the two towns alternated the start and finish
from one year to the next. After some squabbling about which direction
the race would be run, each town began having its own race. A
third race was added in Buena Vista and The Triple Crown was born. If
a runner-burro team wins all three races in one summer, they win extra
money. The purse for the Leadville open-race winner this year is $1,200 and
$850 for the female winner.
The open (male and female) course is twenty-one miles and is
marked in blue in the diagram below (the map is not to scale);
the women's-only course, marked in red, is fifteen miles and does not go over Mosquito Pass:
In the spirit of historical accuracy, each burro must wear a regulation pack
saddle loaded with prospector's paraphernalia weighing about 33 pounds,
depending on the burro's size. Other race rules include never riding the
burro, never hurting the burro, and running the entire distance with the
burro.
One year we drove and hiked to the top of Mosquito Pass to watch the
turn-around of the open race. That was an interesting excursion, not so
much because of the awful jeep road (we won't ever be driving up there
again in our own vehicle!) but because of the runner-donkey maneuvers we
witnessed. It's pretty obvious even in town at the race start who has
been training with their burro for an extended period of time and who
hasn't.
The animals really can be "jackasses." (And there are a lot of "ass"
jokes during the race.) As one of the Boom Days guides (published by the
Leadville Chronicle) explains, "Donkeys have a reputation for
stubbornness, but this is due to some handlers' misinterpretation of
their highly-developed sense of self-preservation. It is difficult to
force or frighten a donkey into doing something it sees as contrary to
its own best interest."
Hmm . . . I can be like that, too!
Marge Hickman told us before the parade that she'd be running the
women's race again this year, so we looked for her this morning. We found several of
the other competitors on a side street, but not Marge:
Note the "Donkey Power" sign
This is #10, the accommodating donkey I was petting
We went back to Harrison Ave. just before the open race started at 11 AM.
I took this photo of a costumed woman making friends with one of the
men's burros as the runner (the guy in blue) waited for the race to
begin:
We went about a block up the street
from the start to watch them come by:
OK, I'll refrain from any jokes about the burros'
backsides . . .
As usual, there were about a dozen competitors in the race.
We noticed only one woman among the emn. Unfortunately, Ken Chlouber wasn't among the
competitors this year, the first time
in thirty-one years (yes!) that he hasn't been able to participate. He
probably will miss his 25th LT100 run, too. He's been battling a
knee problem for several months and hasn't been able to
resolve the problem, let alone train for these difficult races. He's
more than bummed out.
After the open race began, we found Marge getting ready for her race
at 11:15. She attached her ten-year LT100 buckle to the
saddle:
She's borrowing a burro and appeared to be having difficulty with it
before the race. That's common. The burros sometimes want to go the wrong
way at the start!
Burro #10 and his runner still look calm right before the race begins:
About eight women started at a pretty fast pace:
Marge saw us and gave us a big grin. I think she was
happy to get underway. Fifteen miles is a short run for her -- she's
training for her umteenth LT100 run. I forget how many finishes she has,
but it's more than any other female.
After the open and women's official competitions are underway, other
retired and more compliant burros are brought out for anyone in the
crowd to run a block up and down Harrison Ave. There were about ten
heats with seven men, women, and children in each. It's fun to watch
women in high-heeled sandals, kids in their 1880s costumes, and couch
potatoes of all ages run up and down the street with the donkeys.
Nope, we weren't even tempted.
There is an $800 prize to the person who most closely predicts the
open winning time today. Folks were rushing to purchase tickets right
before the noon deadline ("six
for only $5," the announcer in the upper right corner of the
photo kept hawking):
We were busy at the rodeo when the runners and their burros returned
to town throughout the afternoon. When I find out who won, I'll report
it here.
Addendum: for the first time ever, a woman won the open race
and got the $1,200 prize! Her name is Lynette Clemons and her official
time was 3:35, which was faster than last year's winning time by
a man. Barb Dolan won the women's race again, this time in 2:07.
MINING EVENTS
Last year (2006 journal, August 6) I wrote about watching some of the mining events for which
Boom Days is famous. After all, this is a celebration of all things
mining, especially of Leadville's heyday in the 1880s.
Mining competitions have been a part of Leadville history for over a
hundred years, well before Boom Days was born in 1949. Drilling matches
go back as far as 1885. Miners continue to come to Leadville from other
towns and states to participate in single and team events like jackleg
drilling, spike driving, hand-steeling, and hand-mucking. Women
participate only in the hand-mucking, which involves filling an ore cart
with rock by hand. Oh, boy.
We wandered by the mining competition site this morning on our way to
the burrow race but only stayed for a few minutes. The competition was
the deafening singles jackleg drilling event. Most of the participants
and spectators were wearing earplugs in their ears. We didn't. We watched as one
man wielded a 110-pound drill for two minutes (the time limit) to punch
a deep hole into the big purple painted rock used for the competition:
As the drill sunk deeper and deeper into the rock, he threw his whole
body on top of it to control it (the drills run on compressed air). One Boom Days
guide describes jackleg drilling as "rodeo for miners . . . like riding a
bucking bronco."
1880s COSTUME PARTY
At Boom Days you'll find folks dressed in everything
from punk to 2007 Denver Sophisticate to 1880s show girl.
There are
old-time sheriffs and cowboys, too (see photos in last entry). Many of them know each other either
because they live here or they've been coming to Boom Days the last
twenty years, as this couple has:
Add in curious visitors from other states and countries,
and you have quite an interesting mix of "cultures."
My second-favorite highlight of Boom Days (second now
only because they no longer have the outhouse races!) is the costume
contest. Men, women, and children all have their own categories of
competition, and it all begins with The Mosey.
The Mosey is a couples stroll with attitude. The winners
are usually the coy young ladies with the most moxie, the ones who either
bribe to seduce the male judges (I think there are two male and two
female judges). The ones who play it straight and just WALK may be
dressed nicely, but they don't win crowd applause or points like the
ones who make their two-minute walk really interesting.
I spotted this year's winner (below right) before she even found a
partner to walk with her. She came in late and breathless and dramatic,
explaining to the emcee (below left)
that she really, really wanted to be in the Mosey but didn't have a
partner. A young man in period costume -- if you don't count
the running shoes that poked out beneath his pants legs -- was found in
about one minute to accompany her.
That wasn't hard. She was gorgeous, especially when she
smiled.
Emcee and Boom Days President, George Benson, L, and the cute
redhead, R
She smiled all the time. She was like an actress on a stage, full of
energy and confidence.
She immediately took her new partner
aside to train him in ten minutes before her turn in the spotlight. I
watched her more as she and the guy practiced than the other couples as
they moseyed!
The Mosey began. Each couple had the stage to themselves
for one or two minutes. About eight younger and older couples sauntered,
strolled, sashayed, bowed, and curtsied their way around a large oval in
front of the judges and the crowd, who cheered and applauded their
approval.
Then there was only one couple left.
Because she was late, the gorgeous red-head and her last-minute partner
were the last to mosey. It was a fitting end to the contest as they
entertained the crowd with their coy teen-age antics. The young woman
could have won an Emmy for her performance. Even Jim was laughing
and cheering her on!
I was not in the least bit surprised fifteen minutes
later to hear that she'd won the Mosey contest. By then Jim had already
gone back to help Mike sell rodeo tickets. I stuck around a few more
minutes to watch some of the little kids participate in their costume
contest, but didn't see the teen and adult costume events, which were
judged for their historic authenticity. I think this young lady also had
one of the best costumes and I hope she won that event. She told me a
friend made her dress but she made the hat herself.
Addendum: The cute redhead who won the Mosey is
Rachel Graham from Denver. And yes, she also won the "Dressiest
Female" contest.
Here are two of the cute little girls who were waiting
for their turn in the costume contest:
I remember this one from last year, when she wore a
similar costume. I would see her later at the rodeo, competing in
costume!
I decided to run home (literally) when it started
raining lightly. It was less than a mile to the end of Sixth Street. I
followed the same route as the LT100 race start, happy with my decision to NOT
run the race this year with almost 600 other people. I've run the "LT50"
enough times (twice) to save my $195 dollars. (Note:
there is no LT50. That means I wasn't fast enough to make the cut-off
at 50 miles in the 100-miler.)
THE RODEO
Jim and Mike weren't busy yet at 1 PM but they asked me
to come back out (from the camper) and help about 1:30 when they might
start getting overwhelmed.
We want your money! (I think Jim needs a cowboy shirt and hat.)
I returned before that, and fun selling tickets and
answering people's questions about the rodeo.
Not as many people came through today, so Jim and Mike
encouraged me to go on down to the rodeo grounds and take photos. The
rodeo was scheduled for only two hours, and Jim was able to join me at
the end for the two most popular events, the kids' mutton-busting and
professional bull riding.
And people think ultra running is an extreme sport???
Only about 400 people came through today so there were
some empty seats in the stands. This was my first professional rodeo --
and the first time the Boom Days rodeo has gone professional.
Events
yesterday and today included bareback riding, barrel racing, saddle bronc, team roping, tie-down roping, break-away roping, steer wrestling,
and bull riding. I had the privilege of seeing most of these events
today.
I sat or stood near these calves and steers that were
waiting their turn in the arena;
Here goes a competitor in the steer-wresting contest.
The steer is released between the competitor on the left and another
rider on the right that tries to "steer" the steer in a straight line.
The man on the tan horse to the left is a judge:
Here another competitor is off his horse and trying to
lay the steer down on the ground. The winner is the cowboy who wrestles
his steer to the ground in the shortest amount of time:
The next two photos show action in the team steer-roping
contest. The competitor on the left has already roped the steer's neck,
and the guy on the right is getting ready to rope the back two legs:
Success! The steer is down:
Although this looks like animal cruelty to me, it's a
time-honored tradition on ranches where animals need to be inoculated,
branded, etc. and sometimes this is the only way to do it.
The women's barrel-racing contest was more interesting
to me because it combines speed with a lot of dexterity and intuition
between the horse and rider. The object is to get around three barrels
spaced in a triangular pattern as quickly as possible -- without
knocking over a barrel -- and cross the laser beam faster than anyone
else:
There were about ten women competing here today, and the
fastest were under eighteen seconds. I read and article later in the
Denver Post about a young woman who made over a million dollars on
one horse that is now retired. Now riding a different horse, she
competes nearly every day during rodeo season and attends the
highest-paying events. I don't think she was here today.
The most exciting events I watched were bronco- and
bull-riding. I didn't get any good photos of the broncs, but here are
two riders trying to stay on their bulls for eight seconds (the guy in
the first photo was the winner):
Children's events were interspersed throughout the
program but it was hard for me to see and photograph them from my
vantage point. The mutton-busting was fun to watch -- kids under 50
pounds were allowed to ride a sheep out of the chute just like the big
boys rode the bucking broncos and bulls. None of the kids lasted more
than a couple seconds, though. It looked more dangerous than it is. It
didn't appear that any of the kids (OR adults) got hurt this afternoon.
Remember that little girl in the frilly pink dress and
white pantaloons? She participated in all three kids' rodeo events
(mutton-busting, riding a stick horse, and a race against a boy to untie
a ribbon on a goat's tail0 -- in that costume!! So did a couple other
older girls.
By 4 PM the rodeo and the 57th annual Boom Days
celebration were
over. By 5 PM, the yellow tape and signs were being removed around Jack's
property, the rodeo stock was gone, the burro races were over, and the
food and crafts booths downtown were mostly dismantled.
It started raining more steadily as the rodeo crowd
dispersed and we returned to our camper. I was facing Mt. Massive for
two hours during the rodeo and watched the mountain slowly disappear
behind clouds and approaching rain. It was good timing; the weekend
was mostly dry for the celebration.
This is definitely Leadville's "monsoon" season. I think
it's rained every afternoon or evening since we got to this area. It's
quite different than the mostly-sunny weather we had in Silverton, but
we'd rather be here in chilly rain than in hot, humid Virginia.
Upcoming entries: photos of our hummingbird
friends, more training runs in scenic places, the last reunion for 10th
Mountain Division WWII veterans , and volunteering for the LT100
bike race.
Sue
"Runtrails & Company" - Sue Norwood, Jim O'Neil, Cody, and
Tater
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© 2007 Sue Norwood and Jim O'Neil