Support Crew
Athletes race the course. Wingmates make the mission possible.
A Valkyrie Wingmate is a registered non-racing member of a team’s support crew who helps athletes navigate the logistical demands of a specific Valkyrie race.
The role
What Wingmates do
Move people and gear
Transport athletes between approved locations; move bikes, boards, watercraft and team equipment.
Stage and retrieve
Deliver equipment to approved staging areas and collect it after completed legs.
Keep the team moving
Track progress, coordinate arrivals, and respond to delays, weather or equipment problems.
A Wingmate is not…
A competing athlete (unless initially registered as such) · a substitute racer · a race official · a Valkyrie volunteer · a general spectator. Wingmates provide assistance only at the locations and in the ways permitted by that race’s official rules.
Getting your team round the Durango course
This is the Durango race. Seven legs, four places, one clock that never stops. Most of your team never needs a lift — but three athletes do, and if nobody has planned for them, they are standing somewhere waiting. This is what the day actually asks of a Wingmate.
The four places
Santa Rita Whitewater Park
- Trail run starts and finishes here
- Mountain bike starts and finishes here
- Road cycle starts here
- River paddle finishes here, at the take-out
- Road run starts, turns and finishes here
- The race finish
Main parking. Overflow at Cundiff Park.
Lake Nighthorse, Swim Beach
- Paddleboard starts and finishes here
- Open-water swim starts and finishes here
- The road cyclist passes through to tag the paddleboarder
Parking at Swim Beach.
Your two lake athletes arrive here by car and leave by car. Nothing else on the course does.
Oxbow Park, Animas River
- Road cycle finishes here
- River paddle starts here
Volunteers watch gear here from mid-morning.
Drop your paddler and boat and leave. Previous years have advised against leaving a car at Oxbow.
Dallabetta Park
- Sprint road-run midpoint only — where two runners change over
Sprint teams splitting the road run only.
Do not park at the Horse Gulch trailhead. The trail run and mountain bike both go through there, but they start and finish at Santa Rita, and the trailhead is for operational vehicles only.
Who actually needs a lift
| Leg | Lift needed | What they need from you |
|---|---|---|
| TRL Trail run | No | None. Starts and finishes at Santa Rita. |
| MTB Mountain bike | No | None. Starts and finishes at Santa Rita. |
| SUP Paddleboard | Yes | Out to the lake, and back again. Board goes with them. |
| SWM Open-water swim | Yes | Out to the lake, and back again. |
| RCY Road cycle | No | None either way. Rides out from Santa Rita and, after handing over at Oxbow, rides the river trail back. |
| PAD River paddle | Yes | Out to Oxbow with the boat. No lift home — they finish by river at Santa Rita. |
| RDR Road run | No | None on the Full. On the Sprint, a second runner needs to reach the midpoint at Dallabetta Park. |
Three athletes and two errands. Your paddleboarder and swimmer are a round trip to the lake. Your paddler is a one-way run to Oxbow with the boat. Everyone else starts and finishes at Santa Rita under their own power.
The order to do it in
Sequenced by what has happened in the race, not by the clock — the 2027 times are not set yet.
- Before the gun
Everyone is at Santa Rita. Load the board, the boat and the lake kit into the vehicles now, not later — once the race starts you are working against the clock, and the clock does not stop.
- While the trail run and mountain bike are out
Run your lake pair — paddleboarder and swimmer — out to Swim Beach with the board. They must be there and ready before your road cyclist arrives, and the cyclist sets off from Santa Rita the moment the mountain bike is in.
- Next, while the lake legs are underway
Take the boat and your paddler to Oxbow. Drop them, help them stage, and take the car away. This is the errand teams most often leave too late: the cyclist is riding toward Oxbow while you are doing it.
- When the swim is done
Collect your two lake athletes and their board from Swim Beach and bring them back to Santa Rita. Nobody else is coming to get them.
- Sprint teams splitting the road run
Get your second runner to Dallabetta Park for the midpoint change, and bring them home afterwards.
- The finish
Everyone converges on Santa Rita. Your paddler arrives by river and has to carry the boat out of the water to the staging area — that is a two-person job and a good place for a Wingmate to be standing.
Full and Sprint pull on you differently
Full course
Your road cyclist tags the paddleboarder at the lake and rides straight on, so the cycle and the two lake legs happen at once. Two parts of your team are out at the same time in different places. The boat must already be at Oxbow — your cyclist is riding there while your lake pair is still on the water.
Sprint course
Your road cyclist waits at the lake for the swimmer, then rides. The day is more sequential and the Oxbow run is less tight — but your cyclist is standing at Swim Beach for a while, so bring them something to eat, and get the second road runner to Dallabetta Park.
Things that catch teams out
- The race does not move athletes. There is no shuttle. Every athlete reaching an exchange got there because someone on the team planned it.
- Early is the whole job. An athlete arriving as their teammate arrives is already late — they should be at the exchange, dressed and fuelled, before anyone comes in.
- You cannot follow a racer in a vehicle on an open road. Roads stay open and shadowing is not allowed. Leapfrog to the next place you are meant to be and wait there.
- You cannot enter the hand-off box. Stage gear beside it and cheer from outside — the box is the two athletes and the officials.
- Boats and boards wait on land. Paddlers do not sit in the water waiting, and the boat must still be on shore when the hand-off is made.
- The take-out needs hands. Your paddler has to leave the water carrying the boat and get it to the staging area, at the end of their leg, at the finish. Be there.
- Two vehicles make the day easy, one makes it tight. A single vehicle can cover it if the boat goes to Oxbow early, but the lake pickup and the Oxbow drop can overlap and only one car cannot be in both places.
- Anything a Wingmate does is the team’s responsibility. A penalty for a vehicle or a Wingmate is attributed to the team.
Locations and hand-offs are taken from the leg records and the exchange zones page. Leg opening and closing times are not published yet — they come with the 2027 course hours, and the shape of the day is on the run sheet. Whether Wingmates are required, how many are permitted, and vehicle passes and credentials are still being confirmed, and are covered above.
Durango Wingmate guide
Whether Wingmates are required for the 2027 Durango race, how many are permitted, registration and waivers, and vehicle access and parking passes are all still being confirmed. They are published in the Durango Wingmate guide as they are settled.
Find a Wingmate
Post on the Community Board under Wingmates and crews - teams and support crews find each other there, and it is open now.
Registration is open.
Durango, Colorado — September 18, 2027. Enter your team.