Gunnison to host three-day festival of outdoor sports

Climbing, riding, paddling, running—you name it, it’s happening

Gunnison Loco-Motive
The Gunnison Loco-Motive is an endurance multisport race adding to the action of the 2009 Gunnison River Festival. Athletes of all calibers will test their paddling, mountain biking and trail running prowess as they embark on an incredible journey through the expansive and scenic Bureau of Land Management lands encompassing Gunnison.

The Gunnison Loco-Motive can be done as a solo or team race and will share a common start and finish at the Gunnison Whitewater Park, the epicenter for the Gunnison River Festival activities.
Athletes will begin by running a short lap through the Whitewater Park and then hop in their kayaks or duckies for a scenic voyage down the Gunnison River. They will break through the initiation rapids of the Whitewater Park and boogie down world-class trout water to the first transition at the lower Gunnison River Bridge.
From here, paddlers transition to mountain bikes as they ride into the heart of Hartman Rocks Recreation Area for an incredible 26-mile dose of single track paradise. As competitors leave their final transition, the laces are tied and athletes stride to the top of Hartman Rocks to begin their final descent back to the Gunnison River Festival, where they will forge the mighty Gunnison River.
Athletes will conclude their Gunnison racing experience by ringing the bell on the north shore of the Whitewater Park in front of hundreds of competitors and spectators.
Register online at www.gunnisonrockandracefestival.com or on Friday at the IOFF Park at Main and Virginia in downtown Gunnison from 4 to 9 p.m. The race starts at the Gunnison Whitewater Park at 9 a.m. on Saturday.

24 Hours of Gunnison Glory
Gunnison Glory, an endurance climbing festival, will be the first 24-hour climbing event in Colorado. Held at Hartman Rocks, just outside of “Gunny,” the competition will include nearly 200 roped climbs and bouldering problems. There will be categories for teams of two, four, and six and a youth category. Entertainment options will go on all day, with music, yoga and spoken word poetry.
Gunnison Glory will take place from 10 a.m. Saturday to 10 a.m. Sunday. However, things will kick off on Friday night with presentations at the Bean Coffeehouse on Main St. in Gunnison. Longtime local climbers Rob Fillmore and Leo Malloy will present along with Chad Jukes, an Iraq war veteran and amputee climber. Jukes will give his first-ever slideshow and is looking forward to checking out the climbing at Hartman.
Like the Gunnison Loco-Motive, register online at www.gunnisonrockandrace.com and also Friday night at the IOFF park, starting at 4 p.m.

Gunnison River Festival
The Gunnison River Festival will be bigger and better for 2009. The 2008 Down River Race on the Upper Taylor River was a huge success in its first year and flows on the Taylor will be even better now that the festival is being held in June. Competitors raved about the new wave at the Gunnison Whitewater Park in 2008. The festival will be during peak flows for the wave and right after FIBARK (First in Boating on the Arkansas River, in Salida, Colo.).
For more information go to www.gunnisonriverfestival.com.