{"id":798237,"date":"2019-08-04T17:40:09","date_gmt":"2019-08-04T23:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=369505"},"modified":"2019-08-04T17:40:09","modified_gmt":"2019-08-04T23:40:09","slug":"leadvilles-sandoval-wins-boom-days-burro-race-eyes-leadville-100-mtb-and-buena-vista-burro-race-next-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/leadvilles-sandoval-wins-boom-days-burro-race-eyes-leadville-100-mtb-and-buena-vista-burro-race-next-weekend\/","title":{"rendered":"Leadville\u2019s Sandoval wins Boom Days burro race, eyes Leadville 100 MTB and Buena Vista burro race next weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Marvin Sandoval of Leadville and his miniature burro Buttercup pose for a celebratory photo while awarded with championship honors after Sunday’s 71st annual Leadville Boom Days Pack Burro Race from Leadville to the top of Mosquito Pass.<\/strong>
Antonio Olivero \/ aolivero@summitdaily.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

LEADVILLE \u2014 It\u2019ll be 113 miles of Rocky Mountain racing next weekend for Marvin Sandoval of Leadville, as the endurance athlete has decided to race in both Saturday\u2019s Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike before going for burro racing\u2019s triple crown on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Sandoval, 41, will race in Buena Vista at the 46th annual Buena Vista Gold Rush Days Pack Burro Race after winning Sunday\u2019s Leadville Boom Days Pack Burro Race in Leadville. The 13-mile Buena Vista race is historically the third of three triple crown races hosted by the Western Pack Burro Ass-ociation, following last weekend\u2019s Fairplay World Championship Pack Burro Race and Sunday\u2019s Leadville race.<\/p>\n

Sandoval, an experienced endurance athlete who won the 2015 Leadville Race Series\u2019 Leadman trail run and mountain bike challenge, will look to become the second consecutive triple crown winner after Kirt Courkamp won the triple crown last year with burro Mary Margaret. Sandoval took the lead at, essentially, the halfway point of Sunday\u2019s 21-mile race, as he trailed runner-up Hal Walter and burro Full Tilt Boogie by about 10 feet at the 13,185-foot summit of Mosquito Pass before he and Buttercup passed the veteran duo on the way down.<\/p>\n

Sandoval then employed a strategy of trying to create distance between himself and his burro and the rest of the pack on the way down, attempting to not have Buttercup conduct a full-out sprint at the end of the race on Leadville\u2019s Harrison Avenue. Sandoval and Buttercup\u2019s time of three hours, 45 minutes and 38 seconds was more than four minutes ahead of Walter and Full Tilt Boogie\u2019s time of 3:49:57. The duo was joined on the podium by women\u2019s race winner Louise Kuehster (3:53:48), who will be going for the women\u2019s triple crown next weekend in Buena Vista.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis weekend I knew the course, although I had never been on it with Buttercup,\u201d Sandoval said. \u201c\u2026 I feel like I pushed her harder on the descent trying to get away from everybody instead of racing with the pack. We definitely ran pretty hard down Mosquito Pass, and that\u2019s where we created the gap. It definitely taxed her, she was tired. But she powered through and it worked out.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Buttercup became the first miniature burro to win in Fairplay last weekend, if she and Sandoval win in Buena Vista next weekend, Buttercup will become the first miniature burro to ever win the triple crown. Buttercup \u2014 at 33 inches tall \u2014 is small even for a mini burro, traditionally classified as a donkey under 40 inches tall. In the history of the triple crown of burro racing, many more standard- and mammoth-sized burros have won races than minis.<\/p>\n

In the two triple crown races thus far this year, Sandoval\u2019s slight 5-foot-3, 140-pound frame has paired well with the light and quick Buttercup, the duo able to pick up the pace and create distance when they\u2019ve wanted to. Last weekend in Leadville, Sandoval and Buttercup defeated runners-up Bob Sweeney of Louisville and his (much bigger) burro Yukon by five seconds.<\/p>\n

Sandoval and  Buttercup\u2019s time of 3:45:38 was the fastest on the Leadville long course since Karen Thorpe and her burro Kokomo completed the Boom Days race in 3:41:30 in 2013. That same year Hal Walter \u2014 a multi-time champion who this year completed his 40th consecutive year of racing in Leadville \u2014 finished as runner-up with a time of 3:43:17.<\/p>\n

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LIVE: Long course racers awarded at the Harrison Street finish line at the Leadville Boom Days Pack Burro Race, Marvin Sandoval and Buttercup win again, two out of three before next Sunday\u2019s Triple Crown finale in Buena Vista.Interview with runner-up Hal Walter, raced with burro Full Tilt Boogie in 40th year racing.<\/p>\n

Posted by Summit Daily News<\/a> on Sunday, August 4, 2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Sandoval credited Walter and Full Tilt Boogie with keeping Buttercup motivated to power forward to the top of the pass through the first half of the race. Sandoval said outside of a few culverts, Buttercup didn\u2019t struggle much with terrain on Sunday. Burros are known to sometimes be skittish of water crossings during races like the triple crown. Last week\u2019s race in Fairplay featured some steep water runoff as melting snowpack lingered on the other side of the pass, forcing race organizers to re-route the race to not reach the top of Mosquito Pass for the first time in history.<\/p>\n

Once he and Buttercup took the lead 10 yards down from the top of the pass, Sandoval said the racing duo experienced a surreal moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is beautiful to see the country I truly live in,\u201d Sandoval said. \u201cAnd as I approached the finish line, not having to sprint in, to jog in victoriously, it was also surreal. You know, I didn\u2019t picture myself running burros last year at this time. And now here I am running with an amazing burro. It\u2019s always amazing to cross that finish line victoriously and know that the people that meet me at the finish line support me in everything I do and I know that they are so proud of Buttercup as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 59 year-old Walter, 18 years Sandoval\u2019s senior, was also proud of he and Full Tilt Boogie\u2019s performance this year, a 40th straight finish that was honored by race organizers during the post-race awards ceremony.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started in 1980 and haven\u2019t missed a year since,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a big life accomplishment for me. And, to come in second, 59 years old, what better day can I have?\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking ahead to next weekend, Sandoval isn\u2019t sure if he will be the first athlete to complete the Leadville 100 Trail MTB and the Buena Vista burro race on consecutive days, although he thinks so. Whatever the case, he knows what his body is in for. But for the High Country endurance athlete it\u2019ll be worth it, as in his 10th year at the Leadville 100 Trail MTB, he\u2019ll also be going for the event\u2019s revered 1,000-mile buckle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will be on tired legs,\u201d he said, \u201cbut it will all be ok.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marvin Sandoval of Leadville and his miniature burro Buttercup pose for a celebratory photo while awarded with championship honors after Sunday’s 71st annual Leadville Boom Days Pack Burro Race from Leadville to the top of Mosquito Pass.Antonio Olivero \/ aolivero@summitdaily.com LEADVILLE \u2014 It\u2019ll be 113 miles of Rocky Mountain racing next weekend for Marvin Sandoval […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-798237","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-18 19:18:04","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=798237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798237\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=798237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=798237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}