Running with Sherman

The World Championship of burro racing that Sherman competes in is part of a wider ecosphere of races that take place yearly throughout the summer in Colorado, where the sport originated in the 1940s. Based on the state’s long history of gold prospecting and mining, the nature of the race is dictated by the conditions of prospecting, which saw prospectors tying their heavy equipment to their donkeys and thus having to walk alongside the animals rather than riding. Due to this, each donkey that competes in a race must “carry a thirty-three-pound packsaddle with a prospector’s traditional tools: a pan, shovel, and pick” (51). The human competing with the donkey must hold onto the donkey’s tether at all times; if they drop this connection, they must return the donkey to the spot of breach and begin again there—a process which can take hours. Beyond these two rules, the donkeys and the humans are free to run the race as they so choose.

Much like horse racing, burro racing has a Triple Crown, a series of three races which offer the steepest challenges and the most prestigious victories. Roughly a week or two apart from each other, beginning in late July and running into August, the burro racing Triple Crown consists of: the World Championship in Fairplay, Colorado, a 29-mile ultramarathon; the Leadville, Colorado race of 22 miles; and finally, the Buena Vista, Colorado race of 12 miles.