Here's the trailer for an upcoming film about Colorado burro racing--imagine running a high altitude marathon while cajoling a pack donkey to run with you. Some of the scenes appear to be the Leadville/Fair Play run over Mosquito Pass, the highest pass in the US at 13,000+ feet elevation. Found via the Southern Rockies Nature Blog and Hardscrabble Times:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0waV3Y- ... r_embedded

http://hardscrabbletimes.com/2010/07/10 ... e-trailer/

http://natureblog.blogspot.com/

More on burro racing--Leadville and Fair Play evidently have separate runs now, each up opposite sides of Mosquito Pass. I saw the Leadville race once, during their Boom Days celebration. Big parade down the main drag, even had a flyover by some A7s at low level, which was too cool.

Here's the Western Pack Burro Association's website, with some good pics in the gallery:

http://www.packburroracing.com/

And here's the site of a donkey rescue organization:

http://www.longhopes.org/index.html

Donkeys/burros are cool critters, very smart and canny. Cripple Creek, the mining/casino town on the other side of Pikes Peak from the Springs, has a population of wild burros in and around town, they're quite popular.

Invented by that icon of Western Literature, "Donkey" Hotey, by any chance?
Perhaps this could be part of a "Western Duathlon", racing the donkey, and jousting against large pre-industrial milling machines.

Ahh, brings back memories of Brighty of the Grand Canyon, a story I loved reading way back when...