The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“If I’m overweight, I won’t be by the end of it”
The Colorado Trail Race (CTR) is a classic multi-day self-supported bike race that follows the Colorado Trail from the outskirts of Denver to Durango. It’s 470 miles long and has over 65,000 vertical feet of climbing.
It’s a beast of a race on a bike.
Part time Gunnison Valley local, adventure racer and fledgling Ironman athlete Eric Sullivan is joining the CTR fray but with a twist. He’s going to tackle the course on his own two feet, running the CTR rather than rolling it.
In addition, while most athletes may spend a significant amount of time to prepare for such an endeavor, Sullivan’s plan is a little more last second.
“I just had the crazy idea two weeks ago,” says Sullivan.
Furthermore, he will be doing it for charity hoping to raise money and awareness for the Down Syndrome-Autism Connection. While the organization is based in Denver, it has a connection right here in Crested Butte.
Local builder David Gross has an eight-year-old son Ben with Down Syndrome-Autism. Gross teamed up with Rob Mahedy this past winter to race in the Grand Traverse raising $4,600 for the foundation. Gross has approached other local athletes with the idea of helping to raise money and awareness through ski mountaineering races as well. This time, one of those athletes approached Gross.
“Sully came up to me and said, ‘I want to race for something other than myself’,” says Gross. “I said great.”
“David’s a good buddy of mine,” adds Sullivan. “Why not make it count.”
Sullivan has an additional goal as well. He’s gunning for the record time running the CTR course, which currently stands at just over eight days, 12 hours.
“I’m definitely going for the record,” says Sullivan. “Then again, I’ve never run 470 miles.”
Sullivan is no stranger to suffering having spent several years on the adventure racing circuit as part of Team Salomon/Crested Butte. But those were multi-sport endeavors and Sullivan understands that just running for so long can be an entirely different challenge.
“I feel confident in my ability to do the work,” says Sullivan. “It’s just the single sport aspect of it. It will be a good challenge for sure.”
Donations can be made at www.ds-asd-connection.org. Just go to the donations tab and make sure you say it’s for “Eric Sullivan Colorado Trail Race.”
The race kicks off from Denver on Monday, July 30 and while it’s a daunting task, Sullivan keeps it all in perspective.
“If I’m overweight, I won’t be by the end of it,” he says.
