1st Annual Dig Your Own Grave

Krakauer and Zwick to produce and direct movie

You got your CB Classic, your 24 Hours of Moab, your Leadville 100, and then you’ve got the Dig Your Own Grave race down Kebler Pass Road.
Only those in the know, or those that use the men’s bathroom at the Eldo, got word of the historic first annual Dig Your Own Grave open class, open road downhill race.
The race started at the top of Kebler Pass at the Irwin Cemetery and dropped down the east side toward Crested Butte and was open to all comers.
The timing of the Dig Your Own Grave depends heavily upon the schedule of the Colorado Department of Transportation. And with fresh chip seal laid down just two days prior, Sunday, September 25 was go time for the four intrepid competitors.
While some people pray on Sundays, these guys opted to point it.
Course conditions were near prime that day and getting better as the day wore on.
“It was a speedway out there, a speedway,” says competitor Elliot Stern. “And the course was just getting faster as more cars went by.”
The race had three rules.
One, no pads.
Two, No butthole surfing, you must stand on your ride.
Three, If you’re kicking Mongo, you got a three-kick head start.
While there was no specific start time, racers were gathered at the top by noon waiting.
“When the clip unloaded, the race began,” says Stern.
Choice of “ride” was somewhat open.
“As long as there were bearings, axles and what not, it’s legal tender,” says Stern.
Stern opted for his skateboard, circa 1977, and admits it wasn’t the best choice.
“I went with a unit I’ve had since President Carter was in office,” says Stern. “It was not the right decision. It was a little squirrelly on the chip seal.”
Milo Wynne heard about the race from the organizers decided to see what the excitement was all about.
“I went to see what kind of dumb-off they were going to pull,” says Wynne. “I smelled weak sauce so I went in for the kill.”
Wynne’s not a skateboarder so he went with rollerblades that he procured during a mad rush through town.
“I didn’t skateboard when I was a kid,” says Wynne. “I used to chase snakes and chase girls. I got on ice skates at two years old, how hard could it be to rollerblade chip seal? Chip seal, ice, it’s all the same.”
Though his rollerblades were three sizes too big, some last minute adjustments made all the difference as he rolled to the 2010 Dig Your Own grave title.
“I just filled them with dirt and chip and the rest is history,” says Wynne. “All I can say about the competitors is, loose cannons. It’s a hard pill to swallow for those skateboard kids to get beat by a near 50-year old, gray-haired, never has been on hot rollerblades.”
He’s been on a whirlwind tour ever since the victory starting with a trip to meet with Red Bull reps in France.
“While I was over there they flew me to the rollerblade factory in the Trod Mang province in China,” says Wynne.
There’s even talk of a movie deal.
“They got Clooney to play me, Brad Pitt to play Zach Marquis and Kip from Napoleon Dynamite to play Elliot,” says Wynne. “Krakauer is coming to town and he’s bringing Zwick.”
The competitors gathered once more at the top following the race to then roll once more.
“After the competition, the entire field descended the other side,” says Stern. “It was beautiful.”
“It was scary, I’m not going to lie,” says Wynne. “I had to invent braking techniques on the fly. I used a dragnet technique. Once I put on the brakes, it took a quarter of a mile to stop.”
“It really was a magical part of sporting history,” adds Stern. “I believe the organizers are going with a biathlon format next year.”