Johnny Bertrand should’ve been out on the track at Jeffco Stadium on Friday afternoon, overseeing his Durango athletes in the state meet.
Instead, Bertrand was preparing for a game of laser tag, part of a team-building and sightseeing day the Demons took in as a result of the meet getting postponed due to inclement weather.
Durango was one of dozens of out-of-metro teams who traveled multiple hours for this weekend’s meet, only to have to stall around Denver for one (and possibly two) additional day(s) because of the snow/rain.
“Me and one of our kids just beat his brother and another teammate in shuffleboard,” Bertrand said with a laugh. “We’re playing pool, we’ve got kids doing the arcade, we’re going to do a big team game of laser tag soon. We went to Park Meadows Mall and did some shopping and got some lunch. All the city stuff we don’t get to do usually.”
With Durango being about a six-hour drive from Denver, Bertrand’s team was like many who came from all corners of the state and are now improvising their schedules. CHSAA delayed the meet on Friday morning, and the association will attempt to restart the meet on Saturday afternoon before finishing on Sunday.
But with more snow in the forecast for Saturday, the meet might not be able to resume until Sunday, which would then mean it finishes on Monday. Those two extra days add up to thousands of dollars in unbudgeted travel costs for hotels and food alone, which stretch already-thin program budgets in addition to passing on more costs to individual families.
“Paying for rooms, food and entertainment for more days is rough,” said Coal Creek coach and athletic director Ben Kirk, whose team traveled about three hours. “Our athletic department pays for state trips at our school but I know for some (Western Slope) schools it’s up to the kids to pay their way. Luckily, we were approved for another night of motel rooms and food. If this continues, then we might have to figure out a new plan.”
But both Kirk and Bertrand agreed that whatever wait and extra costs they have to endure are worth it.
“As far as being able to afford extra hotel rooms, it’s not ideal, but we’ve got to make the best out of the situation,” Bertrand said. “The only other option is to go home and nobody wants to do that. We’re up here for the kids, so if we’ve got to spend a little extra money to make this happen, that’s what we’ll do.”
