Marathon - The Durango Herald

Inaugural Durango Half Marathon set for July 2

Fast feet and fireworks will headline Fourth of July weekend in Durango. The inaugural Durango Half Marathon will be held July 2. More than 500 runners and walkers are expected to...

DATE: Mar 24, 2016 | CATEGORY: Outdoors

Time to register for the Thirsty 13 Half Marathon

Registration for popular race opens soon

DATE: Mar 24, 2016 | CATEGORY: Outdoors

Former Durangoan Laura Thweatt a running sensation after NYC Marathon

Local runner draws national attention after blazing-fast finish

DATE: Nov 6, 2015 | CATEGORY: Local News

Durango local, Thweatt, top U.S. woman in NYC Marathon

Thweatt runs 2:28:23 for seventh overall in female category

DATE: Nov 1, 2015 | CATEGORY: Sports

Durango double results

Note: Race was Oct. 10-11. This year’s race raised $30,000 for the Women’s Resource Center, a $5,000 increase from last year. Durango Double Name Trail Time Road Time ...

DATE: Oct 12, 2015 | CATEGORY: Sports

Thirsty for 13 miles

Younts capture another Durango race

DATE: Aug 29, 2015 | CATEGORY: Sports

Spain’s Kilian Jornet primed for another kiss of the Hardrock 100 boulder before a Silverton sunrise

Anna Frost in command of women’s race; Piceu trying to close gap

DATE: Jul 10, 2015 | CATEGORY: Sports

Nailing it

Local ultra-endurance runner Brendan Trimboli finding a deeper meaning

DATE: Jun 11, 2015 | CATEGORY: Outdoors

Jury in bombing trial sees photo of defiant Tsarnaev

BOSTON – First, the jury was shown large, vibrant pictures of the four people killed in the Boston Marathon bombing and its aftermath. Then prosecutors pulled out the photo they saved for la...

DATE: Apr 21, 2015 | CATEGORY: Sports

Last racer finishes Boston Marathon – in 20 grueling hours

BOSTON – A Venezuelan man with muscular dystrophy was honored at City Hall on Tuesday after enduring about 20 hours of sometimes drenching rain, wind and cold to complete the Boston Marathon...

DATE: Apr 21, 2015 | CATEGORY: Sports

Something to celebrate the 2nd time around

2013 champ Desisa wins Boston Marathon

DATE: Apr 20, 2015 | CATEGORY: Sports

Running totals: Marathon by the numbers

BOSTON – The Boston Marathon includes 26.2 miles, 34 elite athletes, 30,000 runners, 87 countries, 1 million spectators and $830,500 in prize money. Oh, and 150 pounds of petroleu...

DATE: Apr 19, 2015 | CATEGORY: Sports

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Photos: Durango High School boys golf competes at stateDemons finished 14th after two rounds at Fox Hill Club in Longmont

Demons finished 14th after two rounds at Fox Hill Club in Longmont

Photos: Cowboy Gathering Social and Parade

Photos: High County Cattle Auction

High Country Cattle Auction brings top-notch stock and country charm to Southwest ColoradoFamily run, generational business dates back to 1940s

BREEN – The family-owned and operated High Country Cattle Auction is “in the bones” of the Cugnini family, said third-generation owner Chris Cugnini. The business was founded by Chris’ grandfather, Pat Cugnini, in the 1940s. Pat then passed the business down to his son, Duane Cugnini, who then turned the business over to daughters, Becky Hawkins and Chris Cugnini, whose daughters plan to take over the family business one day. The auction, which takes place once or twice a month from April to January at 13062 La Plata Highway (Colorado Highway 140) near Breen, attracts ranchers, farmers and those in the cattle industry from far and wide.

Former Durango resident Steve Greenburg has been attending the High Country Cattle auction for more than 40 years, and continues to travel to Breen all the way from Arizona, where he now lives. He attended the September auction last week, where around 1,200 animals were up for sale. Greenburg said effective bidding takes concentration and a practiced hand. “You want to make sure you don’t pay too much,” he said. “And if you do, you want to buy the business.” Amber Belvin, employee of 15 years and Chris’ operations “sidekick,” said bidders are most often looking for signs of good health in an animal, like a plump, filled-out body. If bidding on a herd, a look of uniformity among the animals is key to a good purchase, she said.

Despite Greenburg already having a handful of filled out bidding cards marking the cattle he had won within an hour of the Sept. 23 auction, he said the day was young. One sale day last year culminated in Greenburg taking home 22 semi-trucks worth of cattle, he said. Chris said Greenburg is one of the auction’s longest-term and most generous supporters. “(Greenburg) pays top-dollar,” Chris said. “And (that) makes me feel good, because we’re giving back to (the sellers). I know these people around here, and they’re the hardest working people on the planet. If I can get them 10 or 20 cents more per pound, then that makes us happy.”

Cattle auction prices have gone up in recent years, both at High Country and nationally, Chris said. This year, animals are going for $2,500 to $3,000 a head – double and triple the average prices from last year. The increase, Chris said, is in part because of a screw worm making the rounds in cattle in Mexico, which has lowered the number of cattle coming in from the south, along with people subdividing and selling cattle branches, and local cattle herd numbers diminishing, which has increased demand.

Chris called the price increase “good and bad.” “It’s great if you’re a seller, because there’s prices that you’ve never seen before,” she said. “Older men come in, (and they) can’t believe the prices. Some of them do this for a living, and they count on that, so they’re so happy.” Belvin said some smaller farmers opt to buy less cattle during price surges like this, but echoed Chris’ sentiment about sellers being ecstatic about the unprecedented profit.

Local cattle farmer Lawrence Martinez entered 59 steers and 95 heifers in the auction Tuesday. Martinez has been involved in the High Country Cattle Auction “pretty much forever,” but recent years have been especially fruitful for sales, he said. “These last few years, we’ve been coming here to sell, because this is the place to go,” he said. “I wouldn’t sell anywhere else. (The market here has) been so good.”The auction’s community roots and generational touch doesn’t stop at the Cugnini family: Shane Hatch, the auctioneer, took over the job after his father’s death, Belvin said.

The auction serves as an opportunity for community members to get together and bond, Belvin said. “When we do have an auction, it’s a great place where local farmers and ranchers can get together and talk,” she said. “They come to the cafe, and they talk about the hay, and the drought situation, and I think it’s a good connecting point.” Chris and Belvin both expressed feeling glad the auction can supply so much generational value to the local farming and ranching community. “I mean, what other business can you think of around here that’s the same, right?” Belvin said. “We’re fair, and we’re very meticulous at our jobs. We take it very seriously, because this is (some peoples’) livelihood.”

For the Cugninis – and long-term employees like Belvin, who have become an honorary part of the close-knit High Country Cattle Auction family – the heart of the business aligns with the heart of the local farming and ranching community. “We’re just good, hard working people – Americans – that want to make a good living, and live off this great land,” Belvin said. epond@durangoherald.com

Family run, generational business dates back to 1940s