Escapees March-April 2024

Photo fi nish of the Short Course burro race where the little burro beat the big burro by a smidge.

T he highlight of this three-day-long event is the World Championship Pack-Burro Race where burro wranglers run alongside their burros in man/beast teams over rugged Rocky Mountain terrain. Held annually since 1949, there were only 21 entrants in that fi rst race, and they raced a 22.9-mile-long course from the town of Leadville, Colorado, over towering Mosquito Pass (13,185' elevation) into the town of Fairplay for a $500 cash prize.

Have you ever seen a pack-burro race? Or, heard of a “Llama Rama”? We sure hadn’t! But, when we found ourselves in Fairplay, Colorado, on the last full weekend in July, we learned all about these unusual things during a festival called Burro Days.

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March/April 2024 ESCAPEES Magazine