Boggy Draw Beat Down Drops 60-Mile Race, Adds Adaptive Category for 2026

Somewhere between a tight turn and a cattle guard on Boggy Draw's 15-mile course, Tim McGough of the Telluride Adaptive Sports Program figured out it could work. That scouting run helped shape the most significant change to the Boggy Draw Beat Down in years: a dedicated adaptive category, launching when the race returns to Dolores on August 1.

Race director Susan Lisak and the Rotary Club of Dolores announced the changes on March 31, confirming that the 60-mile endurance distance is gone from the 2026 lineup. The explanation is honest and practical: the ultra distance carried a heavy volunteer burden while drawing relatively thin fields in recent years. Rather than stretching a small crew across an extra 27 miles of San Juan National Forest trail, organizers redirected that capacity toward courses that fill and toward building something the race has never offered before.

The 2026 lineup runs four distances: a 3-mile fun ride, 15-mile, 18-mile, and 33-mile courses. The 33-mile remains the event's flagship, still carrying a $500 purse for any man or woman who breaks the course record. Ivan Sippy and Maggie Holcomb set those marks in 2020, and they remain the targets for anyone showing up with serious legs on August 1.

The adaptive division will race the 15-mile route. McGough and local partners ran the course specifically to evaluate it for adaptive equipment, assessing the tight turns and cattle guards that define the terrain and providing feedback that shaped the final format. Organizers granted a limited motorized assist allowance in the adaptive category as a reasonable ADA accommodation, operating under defined parameters to protect the trail and preserve competitive integrity within the division. It is one of the more thoughtful access decisions in the regional mountain bike calendar, and the kind of partnership between race directors and adaptive sports organizations that other Southwest events would do well to study.

Registration is capped at 275 participants to satisfy San Juan National Forest permit requirements. Online registration is open through the race website until late July; race-day sign-ups are available if course limits allow. As a Rotary Club fundraiser, the event channels proceeds back to trails in the Dolores area, meaning entry fees have a direct line to the ground riders actually ride.

Volunteers are the reason the 60-mile course became unsustainable, and the 2026 version will still need capable crews at aid stations, on course, and supporting the adaptive division. For anyone not ready to chase Sippy's and Holcomb's records, the 15-mile and 18-mile distances offer competitive racing without the full expert commitment; the 3-mile fun ride removes every barrier for anyone who simply wants to be on a bike in the San Juans that day.