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Durango Fire and Rescue Authority pulls coverage
of Red Bull race
by Wil Sands
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A Durango & Silverton pop
car crosses the bridge over the Animas River as it drops into
the Class V
Rockwood Box. The Red Bull Divide and Conquer race, slated
for June 20, will cover 27 miles of whitewater
on the upper reaches of the Animas, including the box. The
Durango Fire and Rescue Authority has
concerns that the race, which currently has 20 four-man teams
registered, is not taking adequeate safety
precautions./Photo by Todd Thompson. |
A new, extreme race promises to set a local standard for difficulty
when it runs June 20 north of Durango. However, the difficulty
of the first-ever Red Bull Divide & Conquer may also present
some problems. The Durango Fire and Rescue Authority has retracted
its proposal to provide safety for the event citing several issues
that could not be resolved.
Red Bull Divide & Conquer is modeled on the Red Bull Dolomitenmann
which has run for the last 16 years in Austria. The event will
take place in the San Juan Mountains just north of Durango and
feature four-person relay teams competing in trail running, paragliding,
kayaking and mountain biking. The race is being touted as among
the most difficult to ever take place in North America and more
strenuous than its predecessor, the Dolomitenmann.
“This course will be a bit longer, and I would say more
difficult than the Dolomitenmann,” said Patrick Harper,
the course designer for the Divide & Conquer. “We do
have a Czechoslovakian team coming over to compete that has won
the Austrian race several years in a row.”
The race begins in Silverton with 8 miles of trail running up
Kendall Mountain. Next, paragliders will take the baton and launch
from as high as 13,300 feet. From there, a kayaker will take over
and run the Upper Animas and its 27 miles of Class IV and V whitewater
to below the Rockwood Box. The fourth and final leg of the competition
features 27 miles of mountain biking covering over 7,000 feet
of elevation gain and ending at the finish line at the Durango
Mountain Resort base area.
“This is not a course for the amateur athlete,” Harper
said. “It will challenge even the best.”
However, there are concerns that if the course is too much for
the best, there will not be a sufficient emergency response and
rescue plan in place. The race is well outside the boundaries
of the Durango Fire and Rescue Authority service area, but DFRA
put forth a proposal to provide backup emergency and rescue services
for the event. The proposal was submitted approximately eight
weeks ago and has since been withdrawn because of several concerns
about the Divide & Conquer safety plan.
“For starts, way too much time elapsed between our proposal
and when we heard back for us to feel comfortable adequately coordinating
the event,” said Scott Sholes, Emergency Medical Services
coordinator for DFRA. “I also kind of got the impression
that they wanted to chisel so much away from it that we weren’t
comfortable.”
Sholes added that the involved nature of the event and the variety
and amount of terrain it will cover required a comprehensive approach
to safety that DFRA felt Red Bull was not willing to provide.
“It’s a really involved event they’re putting
on,” he said. “For DFRA to tie in with it, we really
needed the whole package, especially considering liability issues.”
Sholes detailed some of DFRA’s concerns, saying, “There’s
nowhere to put an ambulance that will cover it all. The last I
heard they had plans for one 4
ambulance at Purgatory. Where they need the coverage is along
the Animas and up at Kendall Mountain. There are also major communication
issues with the event. It’s very challenging terrain, and
it’s challenging in terms of coordination.”
He added, “To my knowledge, they haven’t made any
contact with the San Juan County Sheriff, and she’s responsible
for both the search and rescue and the ambulance 85 And the plan
does involve an ambulance, ski patrollers and other things they
didn’t have in place the last time I looked at it.”
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| Among the Durango Fire and Rescue Authority’s
criticisms of the Red Bull safety plan is insufficient ambulance
coverage for a very large race area with challenging terrain./Photo
by Todd Newcomer. |
Harper countered that Red Bull has taken safety into account
and prepared a plan that has met with its own and the Forest Service’s
satisfaction. He also noted that depending on weather and run-off,
the paragliding and kayaking portions of the race may be pulled
or altered.
“Red Bull puts on events all over the world,” he
said. “A lot of them are extreme, but we also cover our
bases in terms of safety. If we have to make changes before the
event, we’re prepared to alter the paragliding and kayaking
legs.”
Harper, a professional adventure racer himself, also said that
each of the athletes competing in Divide & Conquer must have
a proven track record and have someone in the industry vouch for
their ability. “In a way, it’s kind of a self-screening
process, but when each team registers, they have to have someone
vouch for their ability,” he said.
Harper added, “I understand everyone’s concerns,
but the athlete’s perspective is a little different. These
people are excited about the event and confident in their abilities
to handle the course.”
The Forest Service recently issued a permit allowing Red Bull
Divide & Conquer to use public lands on June 20. Carolyn Long,
outfitter and guide administrator for the Columbine Ranger District,
said that the agency took its time to make sure that the safety
plan was satisfactory.
“We wanted to make sure we had a good safety plan in place,”
she said. “The Durango Fire and Rescue Authority didn’t
agree on what was needed.”
Long said that the Forest Service has verified most of the details
of the plan. She also cited a $2 million insurance policy that
Red Bull is carrying specifically for Divide & Conquer.
“The federal government is held harmless on these kinds
of races because they carry a $2 million insurance policy,”
Long said. “We still try to be extra careful.”
Insurance policy aside, DFRA and La Plata County Search and Rescue
will provide the ultimate safety net when the race runs in approximately
two weeks. Should an injury take place on June 20, local emergency
and search and rescue personnel will be on the other end of the
911 call.
“None of this technically falls in our normal response
area,” Sholes said. “But the county probably will
look to us if a response is needed.”
Long concurred, saying, “We won’t have them standing
by, but the race organizers may have to call 911, and La Plata
County Search and Rescue and the Durango Fire and Rescue Authority
will have to respond to the call.”
For his and everyone’s part, Sholes concluded by saying
that he hopes that the call never comes. “Hopefully, they’ll
be able to get it together, and it will go off as planned,”
he said.
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