Eric Spry 5K race at Beaver Creek a truly inspiring benefit for Battle Mountain cross country

The Battle Mountain girl’s cross-country team finished second at the Cheyenne Mountain Stampede last weekend in Colorado Springs. Now they’re gunning for top honors in Saturday’s Eric Spry Memorial 5K Run/Walk at Beaver Creek. The high school race is at 10 a.m., and the open race that benefits both the Huskies and the Eric Spry Memorial Scholarship Fund is set for 1 p.m. (Battle Mountain cross country Facebook page photo).

There is no Battle Mountain football game this weekend, which frees everyone up to come watch one of the most inspiring athletic events of the school year for the Huskies and everyone who supports Husky Nation: The 6^th annual Eric Spry Memorial 5K Run/Walk at Beaver Creek on Saturday, Sept. 3.

It’s the home meet for the Battle Mountain Huskies cross-country running team, which is consistently one of the best 4A programs in Colorado. The high school race starts at 10 a.m., Saturday, and then it’s time for me to shine in the open race at 1 p.m., where I hope to resume my grudge match with Vail Mountain School alumnus Tom Boyd, who soundly defeated me last year on the somewhat brutal course.

But this year I’ve been training a little harder, and so has my son Nick and the rest of the Battle Mountain squad that’s coming off of second-place (girls) and sixth-place (boys) team finishes last weekend at the Cheyenne Mountain Stampede pre-state meet in Colorado Springs – also a very tough course (thanks for the great article, Chris Freud).

Beaver Creek adds quite a bit of altitude to the mix on Saturday and takes runners up a pretty steady climb over the first half of the 5K (3.1 miles) course. It doesn’t sound like much, but you start in Creekside Park and wind up climbing above the top terminal of the Buckaroo Express Gondola.

The course is being touted by MileSplit National as one of the toughest in the nation, and you can help procure that designation with some quality video. It’s lung- and gut-busting, trust me, but don’t be intimidated (note the walk portion of the run/walk format).

The Huskies will have home-course advantage and hopefully a large and enthusiastic cheering contingent, but what makes this event truly special is that the open race is a fundraiser for both the Battle Mountain cross-country team and the Eric Spry Memorial Scholarship Fund.

I did not know Eric because I believe he graduated in 2009, well before Nick became a Husky in 2014, but from what I read about him and from what I’ve heard about him through cross-country coach and now principal Rob Parish is that Eric was an exceptional young man.

Eric apparently stood out among even the stellar group of gifted and dedicated athletes and students who typically comprise the team. He was a leader and community volunteer who seemingly made every day on Earth count.

Eric died of pneumonia during his sophomore year at Colorado State University in 2011, and if you want to know more, read an excellent biographical obituary on him by Randy Wyrick in the Vail Daily.

I plan to run extra hard on Saturday at 1 p.m. to honor Eric’s legacy, which will hopefully live on forever in the form of this amazing race. Please come out for the open and do the same. It’s $25 if you register online today or Friday on the Vail Recreation District website at www.vailrec.com, or $35 the day of the race.

It’s truly a family-friendly event, and my wife Kristin and younger son Rennick will be run/walking in the open division as well. Middle son Max goes off at 1 p.m. in the middle school race for Berry Creek Middle School (go Wildcats!) and again, all open division entries benefit the Huskies and the Eric Spry scholarship.

The Eric Spry Memorial Scholarship Fund is listed among the Vail Valley Foundation’s YouthPower365 “Dollars for Scholars” programs, which I mention because Tom Boyd is the spokesman for the Foundation and therefore has an obligation to run this race and try to beat me again this year, which he should be able to accomplish easily given his 10-year age advantage.

Eric Spry used to like to quote running legend Steve Prefontaine, and so I offer his favorite quote to Boyd and anyone else on the bubble about entering Saturday’s 1 p.m. open race: “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.”

I also think I used to say that to Tommy when he was my sports editor and I was editor of The Vail Trail. See you all Saturday at the start line. This one’s for Eric Spry and Husky Nation!

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David O. Williams

Managing Editor at RealVail

David O. Williams is the editor and co-founder of RealVail.com and has had his awarding-winning work (see About Us) published in more than 75 newspapers and magazines around the world, including 5280 Magazine, American Way Magazine (American Airlines), the Anchorage Daily News (Alaska), the Anchorage Daily Press (Alaska), Aspen Daily News, Aspen Journalism, the Aspen Times, Beaver Creek Magazine, the Boulder Daily Camera, the Casper Star Tribune (Wyoming), the Chicago Tribune, Colorado Central Magazine, the Colorado Independent (formerly Colorado Confidential), Colorado Newsline, Colorado Politics (formerly the Colorado Statesman), Colorado Public News, the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Colorado Springs Independent, the Colorado Statesman (now Colorado Politics), the Colorado Times Recorder, the Cortez Journal, the Craig Daily Press, the Curry Coastal Pilot (Oregon), the Daily Trail (Vail), the Del Norte Triplicate (California), the Denver Daily News, the Denver Gazette, the Denver Post, the Durango Herald, the Eagle Valley Enterprise, the Eastside Journal (Bellevue, Washington), ESPN.com, Explore Big Sky (Mont.), the Fort Morgan Times (Colorado), the Glenwood Springs Post-Independent, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, the Greeley Tribune, the Huffington Post, the King County Journal (Seattle, Washington), the Kingman Daily Miner (Arizona), KUNC.org (northern Colorado), LA Weekly, the Las Vegas Sun, the Leadville Herald-Democrat, the London Daily Mirror, the Moab Times Independent (Utah), the Montgomery Journal (Maryland), the Montrose Daily Press, The New York Times, the Parent’s Handbook, Peaks Magazine (now Epic Life), People Magazine, Powder Magazine, the Pueblo Chieftain, PT Magazine, the Rio Blanco Herald Times (Colorado), Rocky Mountain Golf Magazine, the Rocky Mountain News, RouteFifty.com (formerly Government Executive State and Local), the Salt Lake Tribune, SKI Magazine, Ski Area Management, SKIING Magazine, the Sky-Hi News, the Steamboat Pilot & Today, the Sterling Journal Advocate (Colorado), the Summit Daily News, United Hemispheres (United Airlines), Vail/Beaver Creek Magazine, Vail en Español, Vail Health Magazine, Vail Valley Magazine, the Vail Daily, the Vail Trail, Westword (Denver), Writers on the Range and the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. Williams is also the founder, publisher and editor of RealVail.com and RockyMountainPost.com.

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