Coffin Races!

(Jesse's writing this post...) After much anticipation and preparation, we've successfully participated in our first Manitou Springs Coffin Races. We were unaware what a glorious event it would be. We've never even see this event, so we weren't sure what to expect of the day.

The harrowing tale of competition, passion, athleticism, crazy costumes, and little vomit follows here...

Manitou was PACKED with visitors, both participants and on-lookers. The crowds started arriving about 10:30. They closed Manitou Ave. right at Canyon, which is right outside our apartment and we heard parking was nuts. Jason and Sylvia parked on Manitou Ave. all the way almost to the on ramp to Highway 24. According to mapquest that's over a mile...

Teams are made up of 4 runners/pushers plus 1 "Emma" or person in the coffin. Emma Crawford is the lovely lady this event is named after who allegedly washed down the streets of Manitou a century ago.

Team Coughin was made up of
-my pops, who jogs and is in shape
-the fit and athletic, Jason Callegari
-the man with the biggest calves I've ever seen, Steve Nakano
-me. I don't really exercise. Consider this foreshadowing.
-Betsy Friedlander was our brave and encouraging "Emma Crawford" riding in the coffin.

As the crowds came, so did the coffins. We saw lots of the coffins being pushed down the street, others in the back of trucks. Here's one of our favorites. The four runners were the two presidential candidates and their running mates. Notice the Sarah Palin character holding a machine gun and a polar bear....

That's right outside our apartment porch.

We've never seen Manitou so packed. We didn't hear how many people were there, but it had to be at least 50,000. Here's a look down Manitou Ave. down along the race and parade route.

After check-in and registration we had an inspection of our coffins. They have judges that ensure your coffin isn't too big or small, that your wheels are legal, etc. Here's our coffin. We were clearly going for the medical theme. Notice the catheter, clipboard, and ambulance light. We also had what Kate calls "a sphygnomonometer." That's a blood pressure gauge and cuff.

And here's Team Coughin just after inspection. There were a record 49 coffin teams this year. Thanks to the Nakano fam for providing the med gear.

At about 12:30, the parade started. The parade started with an entourage of hearses. I had no clue so many hearses even existed in the state of Colorado. This one here was like the Batmobile version and included a flamethrower on tip. A bit much, if you ask me.

All the coffins followed the hearses in the parade. Each coffin was allowed an "entourage" and was judged on their costumes too. Kate and my mom joined us in the parade wearing scrubs. It was so fun to be in the parade! The next few shots were while we were walking in the parade. In one team's entourage, there was this huge scary thing...

This was one of my favorite groups: the forest gnomes. Their coffin looked like it was hollowed out of a huge tree. Apparently, during their race they actually lost control and went into the crowd...we never heard if anyone was hurt because of the rogue log coffin.

Here was a really fun group that was Scooby Doo and friends. Their coffin looked like the van from the cartoon.

For the parade, we walked up Manitou Ave. and then back east. Then all 49 of the coffin teams lined up going east and waited in line. The races were just two teams at a time. It was a bit more uphill that I thought and the race course was apparently 250 yards. It went from just outside the kitchen store that's across from the old photography place, going west, past Patsy's and the arcade, and ending up right outside The Loop near Ruxton Ave. We were #34, so we didn't run until about 1:30. And drumroll: here's the video. We'll be on the inside. Don't blink, we're a flash of medical blue...

So we won our heat against the superhero team with a time of 32 seconds. Our time wasn't enough to make it into the final 4, but we know we were close because the winning time was 29 seconds.

So unfortunately, after the long tough sprint, I wasn't feeling so good and threw up in the street. I might be the only one in the history of the 250 yard race that's ralphed afterwards. Our friend Mike Pacini was actually upset that the rest of the team didn't throw up. They apparently weren't trying hard enough if they didn't throw up. Thanks for the support Mike.

The forest gnomes ditched their coffin in the road after the race. The remnants of a successful day...

All in all, a great day. A great experience as new Manitou residents. We definitely want to be involved next year as well. We'll be taking suggestions for next years themes. Thanks for eveyone who came to hang out and support Team Coughin! Glad you could come, Bea.

And the moral of the story: if you don't throw up, you're not trying hard enough.

The next event: the great Fruitcake Toss. It's another Manitou tradition that happens right after Christmas. You're allowed to make catapults and other launching devices. We'll recruit our engineering friends and family to develop something cool. Thanks for reading!