The Magic is Leadville

so [Music] come up to the office all the shift bosses come to the office we're going to have a meeting we make our living walking through solid rock we don't have meetings we're closing the mine tell them to go home they're done you're done overnight we became the highest unemployment in the nation without question lost 3 250 jobs just that night unemployment was so bad the governor of colorado at the time richard lamb came to visit to visit us here in leadville he says you got two things you got your mining history and heritage you got these beautiful mountains you gotta bring people to your community to spend money we'd kicked around different ideas a little fair little rodeo a little whatever little foot races or something that foot race grew in our minds up to 100 miles a hundred miles seemed the magic because that's one zero zero in a town of ten zero zero zero the first thing i did i went down to see mary lee and i said mary lee i'm gonna need help i'm gonna need a race director i said i can't pay you a thing [Music] feels so good two years i've been getting ready for this and it's finally nice to get it done and we actually um came to run the race in 2013 and fell in love with leadville and got married here and we're gonna live here eventually we love mudville like marylee says leadville found us when everyone was out of work it was pretty easy to get volunteers because nobody could tell you no because they weren't doing anything else so it became uh certainly a community event with many many volunteers the town itself i think has found an identity in these races and the toughness of the athletes that come and the grit guts and determination that it takes to finish the races we've always felt like our racers number one and our volunteers number two and the race crews number three are one big family and we treat them as such this is my 37th year the memory stuff is always the runners who have a really hard time getting through and one of the patrollers really peps them up and they again gets them on we've had several like that over the years that then they come back and find the patroller and her thanks for getting me going i get too emotional [Music] i fell in love with this place when i was young and in the last few years i've gotten to call it my backyard my home what i love about this place is our community it is that everybody here is they're working they're hard working hard playing just human real people my world is about getting people outside i'm coming from that background thought about this position two years ago very interested in shifting from my just racing these races to how i could be a part of something bigger and then it showed up as an opportunity to kind of pursue further and kind of stepped into that place it's a lot of conversation that led to wow do these pieces all fit together does this make sense can we do something non-traditional that actually works really well [Music] my vision has a lot to do with how do we collaborate even further between these races and what we're doing here and the community and how it impacts and how we grow together [Music] well we started the legacy foundation in 2002 formally probably one of our proudest accomplishments is giving a started as 1000 and it's now a two thousand dollar scholarship to every lake county high school graduating senior not need based not grade based leadville based and we don't care if they're going to truck driving school or research university they all get it [Music] i have three sons my oldest uh he went to metro uh university in denver and he was able to get the scholarship and use it so that's pretty personal right there then fabian uh he's going to school of mines and he's gonna use those two thousand dollars like he's getting right now we've opened the door of opportunity these kids that they can go and do and be something in life and they've taken advantage of it and yeah that makes it that makes it all worthwhile you can put your head on the pill at night and yeah we did we did good thanks to these runners thank you these mountain bike riders uh opening their hearts and opening their their purses and billfolds and and supporting the foundation and we'll make it a better lead bill because in turn leadville makes them not only better athletes but better people we tell them we tell them magic is not ken the magic is not merely the magic is letvel lightville [Music] we've supported the senior center search and rescue the soccer field the skate park the mineral belt trail the mining hall of fame i could just go on and on and on and tell you so many things we've been able to do i love where i live here in leadville spending quality time with my kids when i have them training with me with my family i guess one of the main reasons why i started training and running on this type of events it was to teach my kids something to give them a good example when i have a dark moment i i go back to that [Music] what the leadville family means to me it's just that it's it is family [Music] feeling great the crew out here is awesome definitely uh lifting the spirit halfway we're halfway yeah no it's fantastic man nothing like it nothing like it in the world man you're gonna make me cry so in the first years in the 80s and 90s i ran the race race with them i got to know the runners i got to know their wives or girlfriends and boyfriends or kids and so family has meant everything and now to the point when we have these races each year we call it a giant family reunion we say come on home [Music] you know you're going to walk down the street and see people that you've seen for 10 years showing up at the event and some of them are showing up just to volunteer it's not just the athletes that are part of that community it's it's their family it's the spectators it's their friends and and and the local community [Music] oh it was fantastic man just thinking of these boys so i got to run with them who's your support team here these are sons this is my son spencer my son noah sir all about it nice the best ever man i can't thank let bill enough [Music] to be at that finish line and hang those medals and give those sweaty smelly hugs and just greet the family as they return home and to be a part of their victories their joys their celebrations it just means everything to us it really does these are our sons and daughters brothers and sisters [Music] my son cole been part of this since he was just just a baby and merely's daughter megan she was a part of this and they when they were just little kids he's grown to the point and he's seen not only how to do it but why we're doing it and who we're doing it for so he'll be taking my place in fact he did this year before you know it you're going to be firing up that finish you your sons your daughters your brothers your sisters your mothers your fathers are never going to have a more proud moment of you your children are going to chase you up that chute the revival that we've started 30 years ago he's carrying that on i'm proud of it [Music] i think that the best thing we're going to do right now is we're going to make sure to take a pause and we're going to make sure that our family view the racers and our family you the community that we're doing this right in the best interest of all of us [Music] [Music] you hurt you say thank you lord there's that finish line i'm gonna get them across that finish line and lord you get me that finish line i promise i'll never do this again well about 30 minutes after you cross that finish line i said well if i did this i could save a little time i could do it a little faster and then you say lord i'm just kidding we can do this next year it's a race for every man every woman if you think you're tough enough so do we do for those elite athletes i don't think it hurts any less this part is hard it is i think it hurts for everyone the same it just hurts less time [Music] i knew there were some really experienced runners behind me at the turnaround when i saw them they looked really fresh so like knowing that they were behind me and coming after me kept that fire under me to keep pushing [Music] i'm just so grateful i like never expected to win level 100 and it just means so much to me since i'm from here [Music] [Music] man look at this morning you can't feel anything but amazing my friends i had to fight for every minute i'm not a quitter it was uh it was pretty awesome i'm glad i was able to finish it hardest day of my life [Music] i got my team i got the support i'm about to cross the finish line it's about to be a good day [Music] in 2010 we sold the races to lifetime [Music] bahram karate who started lifetime had been a longtime sponsor of the events when we talked to him he made us some i i think sacred promises about what he would do and he promised that he would keep our community and our athletes at the forefront and he would care for our community he has kept every promise he made absolutely in an amazing way when we sold the race we kind of felt like we had pushed that rock about as far up the hill as we could push it and lifetime has they've given it wings he still wants to see feel touch the shirts pick the colors pick the designs he still cares so much about our community and about these races he just he's an incredible human being 2020 when the pandemic hit we had to cancel everything last year it was the first time in 38 years when an event has been canceled up here in leadville the opportunity that we presented that kids up here sometimes the the best nutrition they're getting is that breakfast and lunch they're getting from the school district and we support that with the lifetime foundation so we gave our athletes the opportunity to either have a refund of their entry fees last year when we canceled the events or to donate their entries to help support the school breakfast and lunch program and we had over 220 000 raised from donations from our athletes that that loved that cause and wanted to support the community and support the kids in this community and we were able to keep feeding kids breakfast and lunch not only through the spring semester as school was shut down but through the summer i think there's some so many different pieces around the community aspect the diversity aspect and how they converge and how they come together we're seeing things change in level you know overall it's growing it's it's healthy impact but it's impact [Music] [Music] our legacy to our community is through the leadville trail 100 legacy and the things that we've been able to do for our community hopefully our legacy to our athletes is that they take what they have learned here take it home with them use it use that strength that commitment that grit guts determination that we talk about use that in their everyday lives in their businesses and their families and pass it on [Music] [Music] looking forward i can look back and say yeah we did just exactly what we intend to do now what i'm most proud of and what we do every day every race and from this point on we're changing lives that's what we do i fire that shotgun starting these races it will change your life guaranteed [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Life Time Events

Views: 54,531

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Id: xFGMTz2svk8

Length: 20min 49sec (1249 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 17 2021