The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Teams rally for good causes
by Than Acuff
While the Gore-Tex Grand Traverse remains a race from Crested Butte to Aspen in which partners team up to try to complete the 40-mile course as fast as they can—or just finish period—a number of teams also use the event as an opportunity for philanthropy.
The idea started when Crested Butte Nordic took over organizing the Grand Traverse. While registration for the race opens on December 1 and is frantic as teams try to get into the race, Crested Butte Nordic offered a preliminary registration date of September 1, provided teams were dedicated to raising money, and capped the total number of early registered teams at 10.
They filled that cap once again this year and the organizations that benefit range in variety. Some teams race for animal shelters, some for cancer research and some for the Adaptive Sports Center. Dave Gross and Rob Mahedy have toed the line for the Gunnison Valley Special Needs Network, while others ski to raise funds for environmental non-profits or to honor deceased friends and their passions.
This year Jack Linehan, who grew up in Crested Butte, and his race partner and roommate in Snowmass, Jeff Clark, are raising money for a village in Nepal and using the Grand Traverse as a conduit for that cause. While they did not register as a team during the early deadline, they did get into the race and have taken it from there, titling their cause the “Race 4 Nepal.” Their goal is to raise $25,000 for the construction of permanent homes in Lalitpur, Nepal, a small community ravaged by the April 25, 2015 earthquake.
“We got in to the race and thought, how can we make this more valuable, more interesting,” explains Linehan. “Combine our love for skimo and focus that energy not just to racing, but doing some good. Jeff and I realized that we’re part of this generation of passionate, young mountain kids who want to do something bigger than skiing powder.”
The idea of helping to construct homes in Nepal came from seeing friends in Aspen who work for Common Action for Sustainable Development (CASD)–USA. The couple returned in the fall after living in Nepal and building temporary housing with the new focus on building more permanent housing.
“They’re doing incredible humanitarian stuff and they were our inspiration,” says Linehan.
A GoFundMe website was set up in January and they set their goal for $25,000. The number came from a rough estimate of what it would cost to build a home for eight people. That estimate came in at $5,000, so Linehan and Clark thought, what if they raised enough money to build five homes. One and a half months into the effort, they had raised $5,600 in donations, mostly from friends and family. As a result, they decided it was time to up the ante.
“We thought, how can we take this further,” explains Linehan. “More than just an uncle donating money to his favorite nephew.”
They continued to spread the word and planned a couple of well-attended fundraisers in Aspen and four days before the race they hit their goal, but it doesn’t stop there.
“If we didn’t hit it, we would still continue, but we did hit it and we will keep spreading the word,” says Linehan.
The money they’ve raised will go directly to Prakash Ojha, the chairman of CASD-Nepal. Prakash will then head to Nepal to meet with the Nepali government and get the permits and paperwork in order to build in Lalitpur. Once that is done, Prakash will let Linehan, Clark and some friends in California and CASD–USA know that everything is in order. At which point, they will be bound for Nepal.
“Hopefully, we will hop on a plane this fall and go hammer some nails,” says Linehan.
With the money raised and the energy and interest in their Race 4 Nepal cause in place, there’s still one task left to do: the Grand Traverse.
“The Grand Traverse is a pivotal moment in this journey of ours,” says Linehan. “It will be the culmination of the past three and a half months of work.”
To contribute or learn more about what Linehan and Clark are up to, check out www.gofundme.com/race4nepal or check out their Race 4 Nepal Facebook page.
