As most of us know, it’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month. So, we went out last weekend to a local Jeep event here in Colorado called Crawling for a Cure, with proceeds going towards Breast Cancer awareness and prevention. The first round of crawling went down early in the day, with two classes of Jeeps (and others) based on tire size (36″ being the separation line as I recall).
The crowds were decent sized and the action was plenty fun to watch. A little mud, some boulders, and a few stacks to get over made it a fun little course. Most of the top times were around the 30-40 second mark, with a few DNF’s in the lot due to broken parts, flat tires, or just plain stuck vehicles.
After the first round was over, the ground crews cleaned up the broken axles and set up the course for the main even in the afternoon. This meant bigger rocks, higher stacks, and all around a much tougher course. We got some bbq for lunch in the mean time and then headed back just in time for the rains to come in as well. Fitting that mother nature provided an even greater challenge for the drivers with mud, slippery rocks, and rain soaked wood. A “course” much like you’d find on the trail…unpredictable.
So yeah, the rigs got bigger, and louder. You could tell the owners put a lot of time and passion into their rides, so it was cool to see them being used for a good cause. The early morning Jeeps were nice, but nothing we hadn’t seen before. The afternoon competitors were something else entirely as was the course. You can see as the even progressed, it got a lot harder and pushed even the big rigs to the limit in some spots. Especially that last stack section. Straight to the moon! While the first round was an average of 30-40 seconds per run, this go-round, drivers were taking 10 minutes at a time. Multiple tries, a lot of failure, but some damn good entertainment.
The evening crowds were much larger than the afternoon group and plenty rowdy. Jeeps + a crowd drinking beer on a Saturday night made for a fun and loud group that cheered at every near flip, roll, or crash. In fact, a rolled Jeep made for the loudest roar of the night as the driver, trying to ease the pain of a jacked up Jeep, stoked the crowd with some fist pumping antics.
All in all, no body got hurt, a few jeeps got dinged up, a big crowd had a great time, and we all raised some money for a good cause. Hopefully, the event returns to our part of Colorado next year. Share your thoughts with us and let us know if you’ve got anything similar in your neck of the woods!
