A new team relay is coming to Durango this spring, challenging athletes in seven different outdoor activities.
The relay includes road running, trail running, mountain biking, road cycling, open-water swimming, paddle boarding and paddling either a kayak or a canoe.
Each leg will be a challenge by itself, and the grand total of the daylong competition will be 109 miles. A shorter, 68-mile sprint, however, is also available.
Erin Hughes, an ICU nurse at Mercy Hospital who has lived in Durango for 20 years, is the race director. She competes in local races, and often plans multi-discipline sport outings with her family. Hughes is putting on the event with her brother, Dan Merkley, who cofounded the relay with Shawn Snow in the Heber Valley near Park City, Utah, in 2021.
“It’s such a great concept. I competed in a similar one in Vancouver,” Merkley said. “But I admit surprise that it hadn’t already been done here by someone else, years ago – until we started to try and do it.”
“I thought, ‘this is the perfect race for Durango,’” Hughes said. Those activities, “are why people come here, and so many people (who live in Durango) do all of them.”
The event, scheduled for Sept. 16, is designed for teams of two up to nine people, so people can rely on teammates for some help. Ultra athletes, however, can compete as ultra heptathletes or as ultra duos and ultra trios. Hughes, however, said individuals and smaller teams will need support to help them with their gear.
The race will start and finish at Santa Rita Park.
It will begin with 16.6 mile road run on the Animas River Trail.
The second leg will be a 9.6 trail run, starting at Santa Rita and heading up to Horse Gulch.
The race will then head to Twin Buttes for two mountain bike laps around the trail system, totaling 16.6 miles.
Stages 4 and 5 will be at Lake Nighthorse. The fourth stage consists of a 3.1-mile stand-up paddleboard.
Open-water swimmers will then complete an 1.2-mile out-and-back swim in the lake for the fifth stage.
The sixth stage is a 46.2 mile road cycle, connecting Lake Nighthorse with the Animas River Valley.
The final stage, open to both kayaks and canoes, will begin on the sandy banks of Willow Bend and follow the river for 8.6 miles to the finish line at Santa Rita Park.
The road run and the kayak/canoe can be split in half so two athletes can combine on the legs.
Hughes said she’d like to see teams from maybe all of Durango’s breweries or sporting good stores compete against each other. She also said they’re hoping to attract an elite team made up of some the top local athletes in the different disciplines.
“I want to see some competition,” Hughes said. “I want it to be a local celebration event.”
Hughes said they plan to have vendors and a beer garden this year, but in the future want to make the event an outdoors expo. They’ve also partnered with Durango Trails and Adaptive Sports, among others, this year.
Hughes said they plan to give some of the profits to local organizations. “We want to give back,” she said.
Registration is open for the relay and the sooner teams register, the cheaper it is. Volunteers are also needed.
“Durango and the Valkyrie are a perfect match,” Hughes said. “The course is elegantly economized with such little disruption to the general public for a race of its scale. This is a great credit to Durango, its city and nature-scapes, and to Durango Parks and Recreation.”
Hughes insists the right way to host and grow a race like the Valkyrie is to conceive it with a native character, rooted in community support. “The Valkyrie mirrors the whole Durango vibe,” she said.
For more information and to register, visit https://valkyrierelay.com/.
