• 250 runners will finish at Cottonwood Lake
El Vaquero Loco is an annual ultramarathon that brings runners in from all over the country as well as a lot of locals to experience one of the country’s most scenic locales.
“When we moved back to the valley we were looking to promote the sport and I was heavily into my own training so we looked into starting a race,” said organizer Ty Draney. “That first year we needed double figures so I ran it and I was the 10th runner.”
This weekend the permitted race will have a full slate of 250.
“Now it’s kind of evolved and taken on a life of it’s own,” Draney continued. “Now it’s a fundraiser for track and cross-country. Sometimes kids need a pair of shoes. We went though 90 gallons of chocolate milk and 60 bags of waffle mix this past year. [When we attend] some of the trips to nationals and big meets, it helps us rent a suburban.”
Despite being run annually for more than two decades, The Crazy Cowboy still surprises some people.
“Every year someone comes up to Cottonwood and is a little shocked that we’re there,” Draney remarked. The race starts Saturday morning.
There are two versions of the ‘Cowboy’, a 31K and 50K.
“The 50K starts at 6 a.m. Saturday and heads up Cottonwood Lake up the North Fork Trail and up to the Corral Creek Lake,” Draney explained. “Then it goes down to the Intermittent Spring trailhead, then back up the tourist route of the creek.”
“The 31K starts on the corner of 2nd Ave and Monroe in Afton and they head up the canyon. The race cutoff is at 6 p.m. and we try and be out of there. They all finish off at Cottonwood Lake and enjoy an ice-cold drink and some watermelon and we send them on their way.”
The two main things that have kept the Vaquero a popular attraction are its volunteers and it’s scenery.
“We have crews out there that help us nearly every year,” Draney said. “McKay Erickson, Joe Wetzel and the Robert Hood family; it takes a whole lot of people. The forest service has been good to work with us and there are so many moving parts we truly couldn’t do it without everybody doing things like backpacking all the things in and getting the aid stations set up and such.”
Draney, who has run and won races not just regionally but around the world, knows what a special draw this area is in terms of eye candy.
“The scenery is really what keeps us going,” he added. “I’ve had the opportunity to be in Europe and Central American to run and the Salt River Range stacks up with any of it. You can have a backcountry experience without breaking the bank or be too far away if we need to come get you.”
El Vaquero Loco is not slowing down and this year’s race is full. But registration for the 2027 version generally starts in October.
