{"id":97290,"date":"2018-10-26T09:49:30","date_gmt":"2018-10-26T15:49:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/silvertons-skijoring-race-likely-to-return-this-winter\/"},"modified":"2018-10-26T09:49:30","modified_gmt":"2018-10-26T15:49:30","slug":"silvertons-skijoring-race-likely-to-return-this-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/silvertons-skijoring-race-likely-to-return-this-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"Silverton\u2019s skijoring race likely to return this winter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Skijoring
Skijoring in Silverton is expected to return in 2019 after being canceled this year because of insurance issues.<\/span>Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The annual skijoring race in Silverton is expected to return this winter.<\/p>\n

Pete Maisel, event organizer, said all insurance issues that arose out of the 2017 skijoring race \u2013 where three people were injured by a horse spooked by a low-flying drone \u2013 have been resolved, paving the way for the popular winter event to return President\u2019s Day weekend in February. The event was canceled this year as a result of the insurance issues.<\/p>\n

Now, the only obstacle for skijoring\u2019s return to Silverton is the final push for sponsorship and fundraising. Maisel said the event\u2019s target goal is $20,000, and so far, about $15,000 has been raised.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur biggest hurdle this year is getting enough sponsorship money,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a tough year, with the 416 Fire, the flooding, you name it, and businesses locally don\u2019t need to be asked for money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maisel said major sponsors include the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad<\/a>, San Juan Development Association<\/a> and Coors Brewing Co<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, I\u2019m really hopeful we\u2019ll have enough to put the event on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Maisel is also looking for volunteers to help. Anyone interested in sponsoring or volunteering can contact organizers at SilvertonSkijoring.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are always asking, \u2018Are you going to have skijoring?\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cBut volunteers and sponsors are a key thing to get the thing going.\u201d<\/p>\n

The annual race is by far the most popular of Silverton\u2019s winter activities, drawing 3,000 to 4,000 people to the small town about 50 miles north of Durango, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat doesn\u2019t sound like a lot, but for Silverton, it\u2019s overloaded,\u201d Maisel said. \u201cRestaurants and shops open. It\u2019s a huge boost for Silverton in the middle of the winter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Silverton Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director DeAnne Gallegos said that over the summer, there are about 24 restaurants and bars open in town, but in the winter, that number is reduced to about half.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut for the business district in Silverton, skijoring is the absolute best and busiest winter weekend we have for that season,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

And the benefit to the town isn\u2019t only financial. Gallegos said: \u201cQuite frankly, the energy and excitement it brings to the town, having cowboys, horses and skiers, is just something you don\u2019t get to experience very often.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skijoring is a race where skiers hold onto a rope attached to a horse. The animal then pulls the skier through a series of gates and jumps on Silverton\u2019s Blair Street.<\/p>\n

During the 2017 event, a horse at the starting line became agitated by a drone hovering overhead, which witnesses said sounded like a swarm of bees.<\/p>\n

\"A
A horse became spooked and trampled at least three people during the 2017 skijoring race in Silverton. Two women were taken away by ambulance, including one who had a gash to the back of her head and one who had an injured hip.<\/span>Shane Benjamin\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The horse darted into the crowd, injuring three spectators. One woman suffered a hip injury that required extensive surgery, San Juan County Sheriff Bruce Conrad said at the time it happened.<\/p>\n

Authorities were unable to file criminal charges against the drone\u2019s pilot, Matt Crossett, who at the time was a Durango resident.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he was 20 feet off the deck and in the horse\u2019s face, then I think I would be charging reckless endangerment, but without that, if you read the wording of the elements of the crime, it\u2019s just not there, and the DA agreed with me on that,\u201d Conrad said in a previous interview.<\/p>\n

Conrad said he notified the Federal Aviation Administration of the incident. The Durango Herald<\/em> has submitted multiple federal open-records requests to find out if the FAA charged Crossett, but those requests have been continually denied.<\/p>\n

Maisel said the starting area will be blocked off at this year\u2019s event, and drones are not allowed.<\/p>\n

Gallegos said there will be other events surrounding the skijoring race over that weekend, such as live music, a lantern festival and a casino night.<\/p>\n

\u201cSilverton skijoring is our largest and wildest event for the winter,\u201d she said. \u201cWe will all be open and excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n

This story has been updated to correct the weekend the skijoring event is planned for in February.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Canceled last year, town\u2019s popular winter event is back on track<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97291,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[170,11,327],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-97290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-durango-and-silverton-narrow-gauge-railroad-co","tag-economy-general","tag-silverton"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97290","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=97290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97290"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=97290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}