On Monday afternoon, Life Time made the “difficult decision” to cancel the Crusher in the Tushar gravel race due to the Silver King and Little Twist forest fires burning in the Piute County area of southern Utah. The event was to be held on Saturday, July 13 in Beaver, Utah.
“Out of respect for the strained local emergency services and out of safety for our athletes, volunteers, partners and the community we feel it is not possible to continue with events as planned,” Life Time said in a statement.
“The Silver King fire, of most concern, is aggressively burning with zero percent containment and the winds are blowing both the fire, and the smoke, directly toward our race venue and course, which pose a very likely risk of extremely poor air quality on race day. ”
The decision also forced the race organizer to adjust the rules of the Life Time Grand Prix series, which began in April at the Sea Otter Classic.
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Now, athletes in the series will be ranked on their best four of six results, rather than the originally planned five of seven.
The series opened with the Sea Otter Classic in April, followed by Unbound Gravel in June. With the cancelation of Crusher in the Tushar, the Leadville Trail 100 MTB race on August 10 will be the third event in this year’s series, followed by Chequamegon and the Rad in September and Big Sugar in mid-October.
According to Michelle Duffy, Life Time’s Senior Director of Events and Retail Marketing, the Crusher in the Tushar team weighed multiple options and even looked to other sports, like golf and F1 racing, to see how they deal with the unforeseen cancelation of events before making its decision.
“With sports like football and the NFL, it’s easier to reschedule, whereas other sports don’t reschedule and continue the series with the omission of an event,” she said.
Among Grand Prix athletes, the early reaction to the cancelation of Crusher was one of both disappointment and understanding.
“Well, dang! Really sad to just hear the news of @lifetimegrandprix #3 @tusharcrusher being cancelled,” said Grand Prix athlete Payson McElveen on social media. “Definitely easy to feel bummed after quite a few hours spent on preparation. I’ve been feeling quite good the last couple of weeks, was looking forward to the challenge, and optimistic about continuing momentum in the GP points battle— but my mind has pretty quickly switched to sadness about those beautiful mountains of the Fish Lake National Forest.”
“Thank you for making this tough call! I really think it’s the only right one,” said Haley Smith, who won Crusher in the Tushar in 2022.
In an email to all participants — not just Life Time Grand Prix athletes —Life Time offered three options in light of the cancelation: a 40 percent refund on entry fee, a complimentary deferred entry, or the option to donate the entirety of the entry fee to Beaver County Search and Rescue. Those who chose the latter option will receive a guaranteed, non-complimentary entry to the 2025 Crusher in the Tushar.
Recent high temperatures, gusty winds, and low humidity have fostered the growth of wildfires in central and southern Utah over the past week.
The Silver King fire, which broke out on Saturday near Marysville, Utah, is still zero percent contained and burning over 10,000 acres. The Little Twist fire, which started as a controlled burn last month but exceeded its limits, is burning just four miles southeast of Beaver at 4,307 acres with 35 percent containment.