The Tarahumara sent a runner to Batopilas to speak with me. Arnulfo, their current champion, delivered a message for me to supervise the distribution of the recent corn delivery--that turned out to be, so far, 4 3/4 tons, as I bought another 1,000 pounds for the school children; the children are the champions of the future. This came out of my pocket. The ol`Caballo Blanco has a little extra alfalfa now! And, Michael, we still have unused checks from you, that Juan Daniel gave me for the March race. Thank you very much! We may or may not use it, depending on how much help we may receive.

I had mixed feelings about supervising the distribution of the corn, feeling that the people would know what to do with it, and do not want to say what anybody should do with korima. And, it was kind of an honor, as well! So, I ran another 24 miler out to Munerachi and back. When I got to Munerachi, I had a list of where the corn should go. This was to the 7 ganadores--winners of the last race, who come from the various settlements of the ejido Munerachi, with 15 50-kilo sacks going to the settlements of Manuel Luna and Herbalisto, because they have run all of the first 4 races, Manuel winning 3 of them, and Herbalisto, the 50 year old elder, always finishing in the top few. Then, 15 costales would go to Arnulfo, the current champ; and Felipe, who finished second the last race. 5 costales, and I will be upping that to 10 costales soon, upon making another delivery, went to the three runners from this area who rounded out the top 10. Actually, I was 10th, so I passed it on to number 11, but that's another story! This korima was for nothing really, A Christmas present in a time of need, as we did not have a December race. The runners and I had a discussion; reminding them that they were champions, and in so being, had the responsibility to be sure that everybody in their communities had enough to eat. I know we understood each-other completely. When I announced that the next Urique canyon run was March 5, and it would be 75 kilometers, Arnulfo, while exuding confidence, said; `bueno, vamos a correr....andale`. Hasta Urique.

Caballo director de la carrera--race director horse

Updated information on March 5, 2006 Copper Canyon Run and Ultra Marathon: http://caballoblanco.com