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In this episode we are going to explore Colorado’s own unique endurance sport, pack burro racing.  I had a great visit with Alicia Shearer on her ranch spread in Lafayette, Colorado, just east of Boulder, where she has her burros, horses, ponies, chickens, and more, some of whom you’ll hear as we recorded.  I had a chance to walk with Alicia and her burros Pepper and Nestor, who are incredibly sweet and intelligent animals.  In races, each burro must carry a miner’s pick, pan, and shovel, a nod to the mining heritage behind this decades-old Colorado tradition.  There is a series of races here, including a Triple Crown in Leadville, Fairplay, and Buena Vista.  There are now burro races in other states as well.  Distances vary I believe from roughly 10K to 15 miles, typically on pretty rugged mountain terrain.  Handlers do not ride, but they must run alongside tethered to their burro.  The races are really a lot of fun to watch.  I won’t go into a lot more detail because Alicia does a great job of explaining the sport, training for it, where the burros come from, and the vital burro conservation programs run by the Bureau of Land Management.  I’m sure this is new to a lot of you and you’ll be entertained, and maybe even want to try it yourself.  I would definitely recommend checking out the Web site of the Western Pack Burro Ass-ociation, yes, that’s what it’s called, which of course is filled with ass puns, but it has a tremendous amount of interesting facts about the sport.

American Heroes Run registration: https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=85175

Western Pack Burro Ass-ociation: www.packburroracing.org

Alicia Shearer:
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Bill Stahl - contact me to join the American Heroes Run Challenge!
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