{"id":46855,"date":"2021-05-08T23:38:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-09T05:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/riders-return-for-12-hours-of-mesa-verde-race\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:35:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:35:11","slug":"riders-return-for-12-hours-of-mesa-verde-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/riders-return-for-12-hours-of-mesa-verde-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Riders return for 12 Hours of Mesa Verde race"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The 12 Hours of Mesa Verde race, 2021<\/span>Sam Green<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

About 750 competitors from around the state and the country converged Saturday on the Montezuma County Fairgrounds and Phil\u2019s World for the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde endurance mountain biking race.<\/p>\n

The proceeds from the event, which started in 2003 as \u201cRide the Lightning,\u201d go to local youth programs. Organizations that benefit include the Four Corners Child Advocacy Center, the Good Samaritan Center, the School Community Youth Collaborative and more.<\/p>\n

According to the race website, the race has donated more than $500,000 to local youth organizations and programs with a focus on at-risk youth and youth empowerment since its inception in 2003.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe attract as many riders as we possibly can and donate every dime to charity,\u201d said Race Director Nic McDonald.<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s race was canceled because of coronavirus concerns.<\/p>\n

About 750 riders registered this year. While it has not yet reached the amount of riders in past years, McDonald was happy about Saturday\u2019s turnout.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re getting closer for sure,\u201d McDonald said. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot more than we expected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roughly 900 registered for the competition in 2019.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The event kicked off at 7 a.m. Riders were on the trails all day until final shut-off at 8 p.m. Participants had the option to start one last lap at 6 p.m.<\/p>\n

Participants could take on the race solo or compete as a team.<\/p>\n

The 16.2-mile lap around the Phil\u2019s World trail system Saturday was Evergreen, Colorado, resident Scott Trudeau\u2019s first race.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know what to expect,\u201d Trudeau said. \u201cI thought it was just a great experience. There\u2019s a lot of great energy here, great people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trudeau, 54, was more accustomed to the steeper trails he had ridden before, but enjoyed the speed and flow 12 Hours had to offer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d come back and do it again,\u201d Trudeau said.<\/p>\n

Trudeau\u2019s friend, Denver resident Chris Wilcox, enjoyed the support riders received along the trails.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a different experience for sure,\u201d Wilcox said. \u201cPeople are nice. Everyone\u2019s pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

year\u2019s race was canceled because of coronavirus <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46856,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,28,60,29,346],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-46855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-county","tag-newsletter","tag-sports"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46855"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87058,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46855\/revisions\/87058"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46855"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=46855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}