Brays, bleats, and the cheers of about 3,000 spectators recently filled the streets of Fairplay for the start of the World Championship Pack Burro Race.
Teams of two—one donkey and one human—took on the 30-mile course for the final event of the weekend known as Burro Days. The race, held on Sunday, July 28, is a throwback to mining history in the area and the state.
A donkey saying hello at Burro Days. 
Mary Margaret and Tracy Laughlin (background) after their third-place finish at Burro Days. 
A donkey catches its breath near the finish line.
Burros, Spanish for donkeys, were used in the mines outside of Fairplay to haul ore out of the mountains. Bill Lee of Idaho Springs came not only to race, but also to explain the area’s mining history.
“Legend has it that two prospectors found gold in about the same area at about the same time,” said Lee. “The first claim takes precedence and they didn’t want to leave their four-legged girlfriends behind, so the race was on.”
The modern race goes up more than 3,000 feet to the top of Mosquito Pass and back into downtown, through snowfields and creek crossings.
Lee, who’s 75 years old, has run the race since the late 80s. He opted to run the 15-mile ‘short course’ this year with his donkey Jack.
Brothers Dave and Flip Nicholson have been Burro Days regulars for decades. For the past few years, they’ve been volunteer announcers for the races and the weekend’s many events. Flip addresses the crowd from a hotel balcony and Dave talks to people on the streets.
“For Burro Days, it ends up being kind of a reunion-type atmosphere, so everyone kinda comes back, married, or divorced, maybe not quite as much hair, et. cetera,” said Dave.
As the crowd whooped and hollered, the teams racing the longer course charged out of town. They left barking dogs and piles of donkey poop in their wake.
Teams can maneuver in any fashion, so long as runners don’t ride their donkeys. As the Burro Days slogan puts it, the objective is to “Get Yur Ass Up The Pass.”
The first racers running the shorter course crossed the finish line in around 2.5 hours. The remaining short course teams trotted, walked, or struggled down Front Street as the afternoon wore on.
Marvin Sandoval and his miniature donkey Buttercup were the team to finish the longer course, late in the afternoon. The team also won the race in 2022 and 2023. Sandoval said he ran this year’s course on new knees after a double replacement last winter.
Bill Lee and Jack came in from the short course at about the same time as Sandoval. After 15 miles in the hot sun, he and Jack looked forward to a relaxing evening.
“I’m gonna feed [Jack] some sweet feed when we get home tonight, and me, I think I’m gonna just take a good hot shower, and an ibuprofen, and then I’m probably gonna get up in the morning and make an appointment with my chiropractor.”
Slide guitar in the audio postcard was played live at the event by Johnny Johnston.
