Brief by Hal Walter
Pack-Burro Racing – August 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
Pack-burro racing is still a full-contact sport — the first serious injury in several years in Central Colorado’s only indigenous sport was reported this year.
Rob Pedretti of Cañon City received a collapsed lung when his burro Samaritan kicked him in the chest about halfway through the Central City Pack-Burro Race in mid-June. Pedretti, a renowned hunting outfitter, also lost his glasses from the impact, but somehow regained his form to finish 2nd in the race. After spitting up some blood at the finish line, he was taken to a Denver-area hospital for three days of treatment.
Pack-burro racing combines equine handling with long-distance running and mountaineering skills.
Pedretti’s accident is the worst in the sport since a freak mishap a few years ago in which a rope looped around a woman’s leg and pulled her off her feet, whereupon she was dragged for a good distance on her rear end.
Pedretti, who is in full recovery mode, may be able to rally for the Triple Crown races which begin July 30th with the 30-mile World Championship in Fairplay, which he won last year.
For the 52nd running of the race this year, the Fairplay race committee has instituted a new rule requiring racers to wear “period” clothing for the start and finish of the race. It is unclear whether the organizers will provide a changing room outside of Park City.
Also, this year, a monument commemorating all winners since the first race in 1949 will be unveiled during Burro Days. The monument was the brainstorm of 1998 champ Hal Walter and was designed with the help of Leadville artist Marsha Carter. It consists of a metal framework encasing a wooden slab upon which plaques engraved with the names of the winners will be mounted. The monument will be placed next to the Prunes Memorial on Fairplay’s Front Street.
The Prunes monument is said to be the second most popular monument in Colorado, behind the Buffalo Bill Cody Memorial.
