Durango-area Special Olympians and those who support their endeavors will soon have a chance to pull a giant train engine with all of their might, all while benefiting Special Olympics Colorado in the process.
Durango police officer Forrest Kinney is overseeing the first-ever train pull event, which will be held Nov. 4 at the train rail yard at the corner of Main Avenue and Fifth Street in downtown Durango. Kinney has been involved in DPD’s Special Olympics fundraisers since 2019, later becoming the Southwest Colorado deputy director with the Law Enforcement Torch Run’s arm of Special Olympics Colorado earlier this year to oversee the Durango train pull event.
In January, Kinney went to a kickoff conference to brainstorm how Durango police could bring a Special Olympics event to Durango.
“We haven’t had one at least in a long time, maybe ever,” he said.
Kinney said Special Olympics does a plane-pull event in larger areas like Denver and Colorado Springs, where participants pull an airplane with a rope, and Kinney quickly developed a similar premise, but pulling a train engine instead of an airplane.
The competition will feature teams of 10 pulling a rope attached to the front of a train’s orange-colored diesel engine. Once the whistle blows, each team will pull it back 15 feet. The team that pulls in the train engine – which weighs 105 tons – the fastest wins, Kinney said.
“It takes a lot of force to pull it, but it can be done,” he said.
After one team pulls the train engine, it will be placed back in the starting spot for the next teams.
“The hardest part of it really is getting it going … The better teams are going to be able to get it going faster,” he said. “The team lines up along the rope. It’s just like a tug-of-war with a train engine.”
There will be pavement on each side of the train yard tracks, giving them a slight curve to allow competitors to pull from a flat surface.
“You’re still pulling straight, but you don’t have to be on the tracks where there’s a tripping hazard,” Kinney said. “We make sure that we’re doing it as safely as possible.”
The winning teams will receive trophies. Categories will include: fastest time; team that fundraises the most money’ individual competitor who fundraises most money; and best costume for the event’s costume contest.
There will also be gift certificates and gift baskets area restaurants will donate to the event, but Kinney said it’s to be determined whether those items will be raffled or used as additional prizes.
One hundred percent of the proceeds will go to Colorado’s Special Olympics athletes to help pay for things like their training sessions and future summer competition travel expenses.
Anyone in the Durango area can sign up to participate in the event.
Donation money isn’t required up front to take part in the event, but teams must raise $500 by Nov. 4 to compete, Kinney said.
“We’re encouraging people to sign up as early as possible just so we have an idea of about how many people we’re going to have,” he said.
To sign up for the train pull or for more information, visit specialolympicsco.org/trainpull or email Kinney at Forrest.Kinney@durangogov.org.
mhollinshead@durangoherald.com
