In the chilly dawn,
28 horses pace and nicker impatiently while riders tug their reins to keep them
behind the starting line in the high Arizona desert. Among the sage and cactus,
18 runners shiver in shorts and singlets, giving wide berth to the stamping
hooves of the snorting steeds. "Five seconds," warns race director Ron
Barrett. "OK, start running!"
In a cloud of dust, the thundering herd of
horses, riders and runners take off across the plains toward the distant
mountains in one of Arizona's most unique and colorful sporting events. By day's
end they will have traversed 50 miles of rocky, rugged trails through desert
canyons and forested mountaintops as they make their way around and over 7,500
foot Mingus Mountain in the Prescott National Forest
