Photo by John Schillingsworth
It’s blue dot watching season everyone, aka the Colorado Trail Race. Northern Colorado has 7 racers taking on the self supported 500 mile mountain bike race from Denver to Durango. Britt Batterton, Bob Butrico, Mike Cookie, Eric L. Swab, Brad Ells, Josh Cameron and Justin Dubois are on course right now. The race started Sunday morning with the grand depart and will end in several days when riders arrive in Durango after some 70000 feet of climbing including 300 miles of singletrack. The best of the best will finish in about 4 days, others will take up to 12 if they finish at all. Last year only 20 of 63 racers finished.
You can track the racers here (warning, it’s very addictive) http://trackleaders.com/ctr18
Via http://www.climbingdreams.net/ctr/
Race Rules:
Race from Denver to Durango, self-supported, under only your own power, along the entire CTR route.
No pre-arranged support, with the exception of maildrops to a post office and only a post office.
Don’t break the law.
CTR Course Record History:
In 2007, the first CTR ran from Denver to Durango. We used the Tarryall Detour, but skipped the Tenmile range (segment 7) and rode Cinnamon Pass instead of Coney Summit (segment 22) and the old Pole Creek trail (segment 23). This same course was used for 2008. Although Owen Murphy rode this route in 4d08h45m, he missed a short 5 mile section, so the course records for this route are:
Male: 5d02h26m – Ethan Passant, 2008
Female: 7d01h46m – Trish Stevenson, 2008
In 2009, the course changed to use the Hwy-285 Detour through Bailey instead of Tarryall, as well as adding the Tenmile Range (segment 7), Coney Summit (segment 22), and the newly constructed, gorgeous Cataract Ridge (segment 23).
Male: 4d03h20m – Owen Murphy, 2009
3d23h38m – Jefe Branham, 2012
Female: 7d13h23m – Cat Morrison, 2009
6d05h30m – Eszter Horanyi, 2010
5d05h27m – Eszter Horanyi, 2011
In 2013, the course changed once again to use the long, mostly-gravel Tarryall Detour instead of US-285. The Tenmile Range and Coney/Cataract Segments were kept making the CTR as true to the actual Colorado Trail as possible for Mountain Bikes. In addition, we started from Durango in 2013. In future years, the start will alternate between Durango and Denver. The course records starting from Durango include the prologue from downtown Durango to the Junction Creek TH.
Male: 4d04h17m – Jefe Branham, 2013, Durango Start
4d09h55m – Neil Beltchenko, 2014, Denver Start
3d20h44m – Jesse Jakomait, 2015, Durango Start
3d19h40m – Neil Beltchenko, 2016, Denver Start
Female: 8d17h50m – Chrissy Nacos, 2013 ITT, Denver Start
5d15h36m – Jeannie Dreyer, 2015, Durango Start
