Burro racers award 2 triple crowns

Brief by Central Staff

Pack-burro racing - December 2001 - Colorado Central Magazine - No. 94 - Page 11

Copyright © 2001 by Central Colorado Publishing Co. All rights reserved.

Pack-burro racers celebrated the end of the 2001 season on Oct. 20 with a six-mile run around Turquoise Lake, followed by the annual awards banquet, held this year at the Boom Town Brew Pub in nearby Leadville.

They honored two winners of the Triple Crown. The prize goes to a runner who finishes first with the same burro in the Fairplay, Leadville, and Buena Vista races.

Tom Sobal of Leadville, with his burro, Bullwinkle, won in the men's category.

Barb Dolan of Buena Vista, with her burro, Chugs, won the women's triple crown.

It's almost a tradition (six straight years now) for Barb Dolan to win the women's triple crown, and she continued it this year.

Dolan also got some national publicity with a short item in the November/December edition of National Geographic Adventure. There she observed that "People think that you have to fight them [burros] or pull them along, but burros run at a really fast pace."

Kate Larkin and Ed Mighell were re-elected as co-presidents for another year, and to encourage more people to take up the sport, members agreed to hold a six-mile Mentoring Amateur Race in Leadville on July 6.

The racers also handed out the annual awards. The Asinus Award goes to those who finished all the races in the season: Hal Walter, Curtis Imrie, Mary Walter, and Barbara Dolan.

Hal, who writes a column for Colorado Central also accepted the Burro of the Year award on behalf of Spike.

Among the other awards: Best Alibi for Missing a Race, Rose Norby, and Lost on the Course, Pam Sollazzo.

There were more races this year, with a new one at Los Sauces in the San Luis Valley. However, the Sept. 15 Idaho Springs race was canceled on account of insurance problems.

Since pack-burro racing is the only sport indigenous to Central Colorado (it began in Fairplay in 1949 with a race over Mosquito Pass to Leadville), it's the sport that gets covered in Colorado Central. And so, for the (often incomplete) record:

Los Sauces 13 miles June 9

1 Hal Walter 1:20
2 Barb Dolan 1:25
3 Dave TenEyck 1:35
4 Mary Walter 1:38
5 Curtis Imrie 1:40
6 Bill Lee 1:45
7 Neil McGowan 1:48
8 Clyde Archuleta 2:00
9 Don Mann 2:08
10 Ed Mighell 2:25
11 Rosemary Norby 3:00
12 John Imrie 3:02

Cripple Creek 11 miles June 24

Men

1 Rob Pedretti,Samaritan 59:56
2 Hal Walter, Spike 59:58
3 Dave TenEyek, Chugs 1:08:30
4 Bill Lee, Mr. Ziffle 1:14:41
5 Clyde Archuleta, Herbie 1:14:42
6 Don Mann, Sailor 1:26:43
7 Curtis Imrie, Masai 1:26:46

Women

1 Barb Dolan, Dakota 1:04:49
2 Mary Walter, Clyde 1:11:37
3 Sue Conroe, Peckinpah 1:32:54
4 Rose Norby, Opal 2:22:15

Frisco 6 miles July 14

Women

1 Barb Dolan, Chugs 0:48:55
2 Mary Walter, Clyde 0:58:15
3 Sue Conroe, Oscar 0:59:35
4 Lisa Berry, Sailor 1:01:56
5 Rosemary Norby, Amos 1:34:53

Men

1 Tom Sobal, Bullwinkle 0:44:12
2 Rob Pedrett, Samaritan 0:45:12
3 Hal Walter, Spike 0:45:15
4 Curtis Imrie, Peckinpah 0:59:35
5 Steve Hart, Vern 1:01:54

Fairplay July 29

29-mile long course

1 Tom Sobal, Bullwinkle 4:34:38
2 Hal Walter, Spike 5:20:20
3 Rob Pedretti, Samaritan 5:20:21
4 Barb Dolan, Chugs 6:02:23
5 Bill Lee, Mr. Ziffel 7:33:58
6 Scott Hirst, Nestor 7:33:59

15-mile short course

1 Dave TenEyck. Dakota 2:09:36
2 Mary Walter, Clyde 2:10:48
3 Curtis Imrie,  Oscar L. Democrat 2:27:52
4 Clyde Archuleta, Rusty 2:39:19
4 Wayne Archuleta, Herbie 2:39:19
6 Jaime Boese, Cochise 2:45:28
7 Leo Lashock, Braxton 3:12:22
8 Ed Mighell, Andy 3:12:23
9 Rosemary Norby, Opal 3:58:45
10 D. Ridgway, Firecracker 4:00:16

Leadville Aug. 5

13-mile women's class

1 Barb Dolan 1:46:13
2 Mary Walter 2:02:02
3 Lisa Berry 2:27:11
4 P.J. Sollazzo 2:27:13
5 Rosemary Norby 3:48:43
6 Heidi J. Colley 3:48:44

21-mile open class

1 Tom Sobal 2:57:00
2 Hal Walter 3:23:51
3 Cole Chlouber 3:51:22
4 Dave TenEyck 4:06:55
5 Steve Hart 4:10:39
6 Scott Hirst 4:10:40
7 Curtis Imrie 4:39:59
8 Neil McGowan 4:52:46
9 Leo Lasock 5:03:52
10 Bill Lee 5:21:17
11 Wayne Archuleta 5:31:43
12 Ken Chlouber 6:23:09

Buena Vista 12 miles Aug. 11

Men

1 Tom Sobal, Bullwinkle 1:26:46
2 Bob Lewis, Laredo 1:40:23
3 Hal Walter, Spike 1:41:02
4 Leo Lashock, 1:53:38
5 Jaime Boes, Cochise 2:01:40
6 Darren Bell, Sailor 2:36:59
7 Don Mann, Zapata 2:37:00
8 Curtis Imrie, Peckinpah 2:59:10

Women

1 Barbara Dolan, Chugs 1:26:46
2 Mary Walter, Samaritan 1:40:48
3 Pam Sollazzo 1:53:36
4 Sue Conroe, Oscar 2:01:40
5 Lisa Berry, Dakota 2:17:04

Donkey of the Year Spike -- and to get the obvious joke out of the way, he's the one on your right -- with his owner, Hal Walter.