July 13, 2010

A Uniquely Colorado Sport on Film

Over at Hardscrabble Times, Hal Walter mentions his appearance in Haulin' Ass, a documentary about the uniquely Colorado summer sport of pack burro racing.

He himself appears at about the 50-second mark.

A fairly small pool of male and female athletes not only run multi-mile courses at high altitude, but they do it while leading members of the species Equus africanus asinus.

In a nod to the donkey's role in old-time prospecting, each animal carries a pared-down version of a prospector's equipment kit.

The donkey cannot be ridden, it should go without saying.

Sometimes this partner goes along with the plan, and sometimes not. Many times the lead in a race has changed because one runner's four-footed partner suddenly decides against crossing a bridge, for example.

1 comment:

Darrell said...

That's great. I used to live in Leadville, and got to watch the race take off one year during Boom Days. Big parade down Harrison Ave, the main drag, even had a flight of A7s do a low pass over town. Good times.