The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Gunnisonofabitch fifth
How many times have you dreaded the drive from Colorado Springs to Crested Butte? Try running from Colorado Springs to Crested Butte.
On Friday, July 22, two local teams of 12 runners each—CBMR’s Dirtier Dozen and Gunnisonofabitch—lined up in Colorado Springs for the inaugural Epic Rocky Mountain Relay, a relay-style running race from Colorado Springs to Crested Butte.
Organizers billed it as “a running party with friends—you may sleep, you may not.”
Before you start thinking what trails link Colorado Springs to Crested Butte, this was no trail race. The entire course was held on a mix of paved and dirt roads between the start and finish, for a total of 195.7 miles, including the climb over Cottonwood Pass.
The idea: share the suffering with 11 of your friends as each one takes turns running different sections of the course with everyone getting in three “legs.”
Some sections were easy, some were hard and some were at night.
CBMRs Dirtier Dozen consisted of captain Stevie Kremer, Brenton Thomson, Marshall Thomson, Shari Sullivan-Marshall, Bobby Pogoloff, Josh Arthur, Amelia Poppe, Nick Herrin, Jill vanTiel, Justin Reiter, Ben Perez and Shaun Matusewicz.
Teams were given different start times based on their average mile times when they signed up in an effort to get everyone across the finish line around the same time. The Dirtier Dozen took off from Ft. Carson at 11 a.m. on Friday and six of the 12 runners had the wonderful experience of running along the highway during the hottest part of the day from Ft. Carson to Cañon City.
Team captain Stevie Kremer, whose turn to run came after the brunt of the heat wave, estimates the average temperature was around 97-degrees, peaking at 101 degrees.
Shari Sullivan-Marshall was on course during the heat wave.
“We don’t run in that weather,” adds Shari Sullivan-Marshall, but “at least when the semis would blow by, it was like a fan.”
The heat motivated the team to put a kiddie pool filled with water on top of their Chevy Suburban for a cool-down, earning them the “Best Vehicle” title.
By the time the Dirtier Dozen reached Buena Vista and were starting over Cottonwood Pass, there was just one team ahead of them.
“It was kind of crazy how we were passing teams,” says Kremer. “People were just hauling.”
As Pogoloff took off on her section leaving Buena Vista, she reeled in the team ahead and the Dirtier Dozen were out in front.
“We turned it up a little,” says Kremer.
“Going over Cottonwood was pretty cool,” adds Sullivan-Marshall. “It was tough, it was a good climb.”
The team charged through the night up and over Cottonwood Pass as the temperature dropped.
“I was so happy to be running in 33-degree temperatures,” says Sullivan-Marshall.
The came over the top well ahead of their pre-race rough estimates. Prior to the race they thought they would hit the top of the pass around 10 or 11 a.m. They crushed that time, reaching Taylor Park by 9 a.m.
“It was moving a lot faster than we anticipated,” says Sullivan-Marshall. “Everyone just exceeded expectations.”
The Dirtier Dozen rallied down Taylor Canyon, over Jack’s Cabin cutoff and across the finish line at the base of Crested Butte Mountain Resort in a time of 25 hours, 20 minutes and 10 seconds to take second place.
“It was one of the most amazing races,” says Kremer. “The team dynamics were awesome. Our team dynamics got us through.”
Team Gunnisonofabitch—Tucker Roberts, Emma Catmur, Eric Stoorza, Nina Jarnot, Christin Ripley, Emma Lohr, Terra Beaton, Kyle McFarren, Josh Egedy, Ella Fahrlander, Erin Sanborn, Grant McFarren—got their start in Colorado Springs at noon and crossed the finish line in fifth place overall, with a time of 26 hours, 58 minutes and 48 seconds.
