Vail – The Vail Valley’s admirable collection of spirited mountain athletes swells this week as more than 1,500 paddlers, cyclists, climbers and runners rally for the fourth annual Teva Mountain Games.
“It’s so cool to have all the different sports and the different athletes here in one place,” said Jason Beakes, a professional kayaker who flew in from Washington, D.C., to compete in the mountain games. “This has turned into the premier event.”
Ranked as the largest adventure sports festival in the country, the five-day party revolves around the nation’s top-ranked mountain athletes scrambling for $60,000 in prize money – as well as hard-charging athletes aspiring for top-rank status. Organizers expect 20,000 to 30,000 spectators.
A supercharged revival of a simple river race down the choked current of the Eagle River’s formidable Dowd Chute 15 years ago, the Teva Mountain Games have evolved into a party of high-altitude sports, art, music and culture. Devotees consider it the ultimate celebration of the mountain high life.
Kayakers and rafters spent Wednesday in a head-to- head race down Dowd. Today, the kayakers will paddle down one of the steepest, technical stretches of whitewater in Colorado in the race down the harrowing Homestake Creek.
The games take a turn over the weekend as the contests move from the rivers to the mountains and to the cobblestone streets of Vail Village.
“Right now, the people here – the spectators and the athletes – they are living in their cars,” said Joel Heath, the Vail marketing guru who has nurtured the Teva games from humble kayak-racing roots in 2001 to the sponsor- heavy, multidiscipline carnival it is today. “As we move into the village, the people are staying in hotels. It’s a good mix.”
On Friday, climbers will race against the clock on a man-made bouldering course. Nimble cyclists will leap and jump through a boulder garden in the spectator-friendly trials competition. Adventure runners spend three hours Saturday racing up, down and around Vail Mountain. The world’s top trail runners will race in the National Trail Running Championships on Saturday. Mountain bikers will race in the state championship on Vail Mountain. Road cyclists will pedal in a history-rich climb up Vail Pass. Freestyle paddlers will frolic in foamy holes on Gore Creek. Even anglers get a slice of the spotlight in a fly-fishing competition.
This year’s event also features award ceremonies, a costume ball, a roller derby, a photo contest, film premiers and a hip-hop concert, giving the athletic circus a cultural vibe that celebrates the soulful mountain lifestyle.
“It’s a complete mesh of the outdoors with art and culture,” said local paddler Ken “Hobie” Hoeve, who organized the first kayak race through the hairball steeps of Homestake Creek in 2001. “I’m just so proud of this event.”
Don’t be tricked by all the hoopla, though. The heartbeat of the Teva Mountain Games is the athletes. Despite their jaw-dropping intensity, focus and athleticism, they toil in relative obscurity, traveling the country on shoestring budgets to ply their skills in the mountains and vie for the attention of potential fans distracted by big-name, ballplaying athletes. The Teva Mountain Games present a rare stage, a one-week spotlight to illuminate a lifetime of skills painstakingly earned in the hills.
“We have never, ever seen anything like this. What a wild scene,” said Aurora resident Lane Bushman, leaning with his wife, children and the grandparents over a railing overlooking the frothy Eagle River where kayakers and rafters were paddling frantically. “We’re originally from Minnesota and this, wow, this is something to see.”
Check out for a complete schedule of events.
Jason Blevins can be reached at 303-820-1374 or jblevins@denverpost.com.
