Videos Login Subscribe Renew E-edition
logo
ePaper
coogle_play
app_store
  • News
  • Features
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Letters
  • Obituaries
  • Classifieds
    • Place a Classified
  • Advertise
  • Contact us
  • Legal Notices
    • Read Statewide Legal Notices
  • Archives
    • News
    • Features
    • Opinion
      • Columns
      • Letters
    • Obituaries
    • Classifieds
      • Place a Classified
    • Advertise
    • Contact us
    • Legal Notices
      • Read Statewide Legal Notices
    • Archives
Imogene Pass Run turns 50
Twenty-one participants bolt from the Imogene Pass Run’s starting point at the intersection of Main Street and Fourth Avenue in Ouray on Sept. 12, 1976. The alpine race from Ouray to Telluride will celebrate its 50th race on Sept. 9. Photo courtesy Paul Francis
Feature
By Daniel Schmidt daniel@ouraynews.com, on September 6, 2023
Imogene Pass Run turns 50

Started by accident in ’73, popular Ouray-Telluride race is Saturday

When Rick Trujillo first ran over the Sneffels range from Ouray to Telluride in August of 1974, he never expected to chart what would become one of Colorado’s most famous mountain races. In fact, the event was accidentally created only after he was left stranded on the wrong side of Imogene Pass that fateful day.

Now half a century later, the Imogene Pass Run will happen for the 50th time when 1,500 runners will navigate the trail’s gurgling mountain streams, rugged cliff faces and 13,114-foot peak on Saturday. The longtime Ouray resident who started it, never imagined it would become this popular.

When the now 75-year-old Trujillo took up mountain running as a high school freshman in the spring of 1963, the sport was still niche and Colorado’s mountain trails were devoid of runners. This year, participants filled the famed alpine race’s 1,500 available spots within 13 minutes after registration opened on June 1 at 6 a.m. It was the fastest that’s ever happened, according to Trujillo.

That popularity is a far cry from the days when he would have to scour Colorado, the United States and the rest of the world to find mountain races to compete in.

“In the (1970s) I would meet somebody on my trail runs here once every two or three years. There was nobody on the trails, and it was such a rare occurrence (to see someone) that I would stop and talk to them,” Trujillo said. “Now if I don’t see anybody, that’s something to take note of.”

Trujillo never set out to create a mountain running event.

As he ran up Camp Bird Road toward Imogene Pass, he only intended to train for Colorado Springs’ Pikes Peak Marathon. His friend Ernie Andersen borrowed Trujilo’s beat-up Jeep and was supposed to meet him in Telluride with the vehicle so he could return to Ouray.

Andersen was nowhere to be seen, and an exasperated Trujillo roamed Telluride’s mostly empty streets with nothing but a sweaty shirt, jogging shorts and tennis shoes. At the time, the town was an unknown commodity with around 550 residents — a far cry from today’s bustling extravagance.

“If you said Telluride, someone would say, ‘Telluride who? Telluride what? What the heck is a Telluride?’ There was nobody in Telluride. It was just a rundown mining town at the end of a dead-end road,” Trujillo said.

That’s when he bumped into Jerry Race and Jim Gowdy, both local alpine runners and cross-country skiers he knew, on Main Street. Trujillo now had someone to recount his day’s achievement while he waited for Andersen, who had gotten lost in Yankee Boy Basin, to drive around the Sneffels Range and pick him up.

A few weeks after Trujillo first summited Imogene Pass, Race called him with a plan. Race and the Telluride Chamber of Commerce would host a race following Trujillo’s path toward the end of September in conjunction with the “Coloride.”

While they didn’t realize it at the time, the first annual Imogene Pass Run — known as the Ouray-Telluride Marathon back then — was born as six men gathered in Ouray on Sept. 29, 1974.

It was a brisk morning, and the sextet lined up at the intersection of Main Street and Fourth Avenue under a clear sky to see who could complete the 17.1-mile course first. Unsurprisingly, Trujillo — one of the world’s top mountain runners at the time — finished first, running from Ouray to Telluride in just over two hours and 21 minutes.

As Trujillo remembers it, the event grew the next year purely by word of mouth. Ten people, including the first woman, Cynthia Wright of Silverton, gathered at the same spot. Participation mostly grew year over year from there.

More than 100 people participated for the first time in 1982, while more than 1,000 people participated for the first time in 2002. The race now caps registrations at 1,550 for participants’ and volunteers’ safety due to the course’s rugged nature.

Matt Carpenter of Colorado Springs set the men’s course record of two hours, five minutes and 56 seconds in 1993. Keri Nelson of Gunnison set the women’s course record of two hours, 35 minutes and 59 seconds in 2009.

This year’s race begins at 7:30 a.m. Saturday and the start line is at the intersection of Main Street and Fourth Avenue in Ouray.

Get into the groove
Main, News...
Get into the groove
July 2, 2025
Carrie Ann Mund, left, dances with Tawnya Schiebel during the Mariachi de San Jose band’s performance in Ridgway’s Hartwell Park on June 29. The band performed as part of the fifth annual Fete de la M...
this is a test
Main, News...
Leaders object to public lands sale
Conservationists, ranchers, elected officials decry bill, though battle over federal property may return
By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com 
July 2, 2025
Recent federal proposals to sell or develop Ouray County’s public lands would harm the county’s economy, identity and culture of ranching and public recreation, according to county officials and other...
this is a test
Main, News...
Sex assault trial moved to Montrose
By Mike Wiggins mike@ouraynews.com 
July 2, 2025
A judge has ordered the trial of a man accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl in 2023 to be moved from Ouray to Montrose. Seventh Judicial Chief District Judge Cory Jackson approved the tri...
this is a test
Celebrating the Fourth in Ouray? Load up on sunscreen, patience, courtesy
Feature
Celebrating the Fourth in Ouray? Load up on sunscreen, patience, courtesy
Private security to help with traffic, parking, so law enforcement can be more proactive
By Mike Wiggins mike@ouraynews.com 
July 2, 2025
The sights and sounds of the Fourth of July in Ouray are ubiquitous. The powerful spray of fire hoses. The shrieks of kids racing through Fellin Park. Cheers and honking horns on Main Street. This yea...
this is a test
News
New weapons policy would ban public, allow employees to conceal carry
By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com 
July 2, 2025
County leaders are debating a new policy that would ban the public from carrying any weapons within Ouray County buildings but allow county employees with valid permits to conceal carry weapons in mos...
this is a test
News
County to debate Yankee Boy Basin restrictions
By Lia Salvatierra lia@ouraynews.com 
July 2, 2025
Ouray County officials will hold a work session to consider a resident's request to partially restrict motorized access in Yankee Boy Basin, which cited safety and environmental concerns. Resident Jen...
this is a test
ePaper
coogle_play
app_store
ePaper
coogle_play
app_store
Editor Picks
Meet your neighbor: Robert Stoufer
Feature
Meet your neighbor: Robert Stoufer
By By Chloe Kiparsky Plaindealer intern 
July 2, 2025
Name: Robert Stoufer Age: 73 Lives in: Ouray When did you come to Ouray? I studied to be a geologist, but I never did geology for a living. I went to college in Mississippi, and did grad school in Kan...
this is a test
News
Fire bans imposed throughout region
By Plaindealer Staff Report Plaindealer@ouraynews.com 
July 2, 2025
Several governments in the region adopted stage 1 fire restrictions this week, making it illegal to use personal fireworks, have any sort of open burning or lighting campfires outside permanent fire p...
this is a test
Letters, Opinion...
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Sign money could have been better spent
July 2, 2025
Dear Editor: We were out camping last weekend and received a call from a tenant in our Main Street commercial building. She was upset about the new sign that went up in front of our building. It block...
this is a test
Letters, Opinion...
Cuts harm forecasts
July 2, 2025
Dear Editor: I write in support of Karen Risch's column last week about staffing at the National Weather Service office in Grand Junction. Federal budget cuts have inhibited efforts to restaff the off...
this is a test
Letters, Opinion...
Congrats, Swiss Village
July 2, 2025
Dear Editor: Congratulations to the residents for your success at preserving Swiss Village Mobile Home Park! Your perseverance paid off. Thank you to Jay and Jackie, civic-minded people all along, who...
this is a test
Facebook

Remote-triggered avalanche in San Juan Mountains

First responders receive first COVID-19 vaccines

Ouray County Plaindealer
Office address:

195 S Lena St. Unit D
Ridgway, Colorado 81432
970-325-4412

Mailing address:
PO Box 529
Ridgway CO 81432

This site complies with ADA requirements

© 2023 Ouray County Plaindealer

  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Accessibility Policy