An important race in the Lifetime Grand Prix gravel series has been canceled due to forest fires. Crusher in the Tushar, the third round of the series, was supposed to happen this weekend in Beaver, Utah.
Unfortunately, the race organizers announced on Monday the race would be canceled because of the Silver King and Little Twist forest fires in Piute County. This area encompasses more than half the Crusher course. The fires are ongoing and there’s the risk of more fires with the hot and dry temperatures.
Durango’s Sarah Sturm was looking forward to Crusher as it’s a race she has done well at with a second-place finish in 2022. She thinks it’s a race that a lot of the riders from Durango look forward to because of the climbing at an altitude of around 11,500 feet.
She feels awful for the community and everything they are losing due to the fire. Sturm would’ve been going into Crusher not 100% as she’s still recovering from her win in Migration Gravel in Kenya. But she knows this race is a strength of hers and she knew she could get a good result regardless.
Now Sturm doesn’t plan to add a race to her schedule with the time she has until the Leadville Trail 100 on Aug. 10. She’s going to recover and train before trying to balance her first place in the Gravel Earth standings and her fourth place in the Lifetime Grand Prix series standings.
Durango’s Cole Paton was also looking forward to moving up the Lifetime Grand Prix standings with a good result at Crusher. He currently sits 17th in the men’s standings.
“I’m devastated for the community in the area and bummed we won’t be able to race but it was absolutely the right call by the race organizers,” Paton said. “I will continue my high elevation preparation for Leadville 100 now!”
Durango’s Payson McElveen has had a great start to the Lifetime Grand Prix series and sits in second in the men’s standings.
He wrote on Instagram how he is bummed after spending some hours on preparation and has been feeling good on the bike.
“My mind has pretty quickly switched to sadness about those beautiful mountains of the Fish Lake National Forest,” McElveen wrote on Instagram. “This fire looks like a real beast, and I’m sending my best to the communities in that area and the teams fighting to get things contained. I’m also thinking about some of my peers that traveled from as far as Africa and Australia for this race. Time to process a bit and then refocus on the next one in Leadville!”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
