DOLORES – As with many endurance races, the Boggy Draw Beat Down offers a race within a race. While many of the hundreds of competitors on Dolores’ Boggy Draw trail system may track their placement within their distance and age group divisions, so much of the journey around the single-track trails pits a competitor against themselves.
With the temperatures warming into the 80s by the latter stages of the longer races, the final stretch of the Beat Down presents the riders with the tantalizing presence of McPhee Reservoir as they cap their traverse of 60, 33, or 18 miles through the dirt tracks north of town.
The 27th edition of the Boggy Draw Beat Down tested athletes once again, bringing the best out of athletes from Montezuma and La Plata counties, as well as athletes converging on Dolores from all across the country.
Some opted to camp across the street from the start line at Joe Rowell Park – a new option for competitors this year – waking up in the early morning hours to prepare to climb County Road 526 out of town and onto the extensive trails that would challenge them all morning.
Run by the Rotary Club of Dolores and supported by numerous organizations within the community, the race continues to serve the mission of raising funds to support local youth projects and organizations. Local race teams like High Desert Devo have made the Beat Down into an annual tradition, as well, giving plenty of mountain biking youths the chance to race on trails that they’ve become accustomed to training on over their formative years of cycling.
The Boggy Draw Beat Down continues to accommodate racers of all ages and experience levels, offering distances ranging from 3 miles up to 60 in the competition’s longest venture. With the finish at Flanders Park, riders who had finished hollered out hearty cheers for the racers crossing the line from the longer races.
In the Beat Down distance, riders traversed a considerable amount of the Boggy Draw system, covering 60 miles before finishing on the McPhee Overlook trail. Travis Brown covered the distance in 4 hours and 51 minutes to win the longest ride by 11 minutes over Michael Palmer. Amanda Felder of Sedona, Arizona, took third overall and first in the women’s division, while local Shawn Gregory finished on the podium for the men’s race while taking fourth overall. Durango’s Blair Matlock took second in the women’s race, while Telluride’s Kristen Craine claimed third.
In the 33-mile Oso division, Dolores native and race-regular Ross Delaplane finished with a nearly identical time to last year while taking second overall, six minutes behind Durango’s Samuel Morrison, who won the race in two hours, 26 minutes. Mancos’ Alexander Boone took third in a time of two hours, 34 minutes.
The 33-mile women’s race went to Diedre Morrison of Durango, who followed up her 18-mile win from 2024 with a victory in the next-longest division. Jessica Wood took second, three minutes behind Morrison’s winning time of two hours, 49 minutes, while Cortez rider Sara Parks took third.
The 18-mile race podium included a quartet of Durango riders, with two men and women from the La Plata County seat finishing in the top three. Fielder Lecompte won the men’s race in one hour, 20 minutes, while Delyla Kroenung won the women’s race in one hour, 27 minutes.
Matt Pavelek of Scottsdale, Arizona, and Sean Peck of Durango closed out the men’s top-three, while Lorna Campbell of Hesperus made it a La Plata County sweep in the women’s race, riding in front of Durango’s Kristina Folcik-Stone.
In the 15-mile race, Cortez produced four riders on the podium between the men’s and women’s competitions, with Byron Crites crossing the line just one second in front of fellow-Cortez rider Grady White for the top two men’s spots. CJ Condon of Castle Rock took third, while Caroline Condon won the women’s race, while Cortez’ Elizabeth Weber and Macie McDonald took second and third, respectively.
In the ‘Three Amigos’ category in the 60-mile relay, The Three Turtles from Bayfield took top honors, while the Beat Down also hosted another edition of the 3-mile circuit around town to offer an option for families, youths, and more casual riders.
