By Davy Crockett and Phil Lowry
In Auburn, California, on the evening of July 30, 1972, an awards banquet was held at the fairgrounds for the finishers of the Western States Trail Ride, also known...
By Davy Crockett and Phil Lowry
In Auburn, California, on the evening of July 30, 1972, an awards banquet was held at the fairgrounds for the finishers of the Western States Trail Ride, also known as the Tevis Cup. There was additional excitement that year among the exhausted riders, who early that morning had finished the most famous endurance ride in the world. Not only would the 93 riders receive their finisher belt buckles, but they would witness a trophy awarded to the first person in history to finish the famed trail, not on a horse, but on foot. The special trophy was made and would be presented by the ride’s founder, and president, Wendell Robbie.
But when the trophy was presented, it was not awarded to Gordy Ainsleigh. He was not the first to finish Western States on foot, despite the false marketing hype you may have been told for 45 years. Ainsleigh was in the audience and watched the trophy and other awards go to the true first finishers. It would not be until two years later he would complete his famed, hyped run on the Western States Trail on foot during the Ride, copying those who went before him.
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Fort Riley, Kansas
Today, where is the trophy for the first finisher on foot? It likely resides forgotten in a dusty storage room in Fort Riley, Kansas, 140 miles west of Kansas City. Perhaps, similar to the depiction in the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark, the trophy will stay hidden for another 50 years. What is the true story behind this “first finisher on foot” trophy, and who received it? It was a front-page story in the Auburn Journal that was later forgotten because it was purposely buried by the original Western States Endurance Run board, replaced by the Gordy Ainsleigh story.
How the True First Finisher Story Started
Mary Lyles McCarthy
The true Western States first finisher story started in 1967 with a young woman named Mary B. Lyles (1948-), of Visalia, California. She was a very experienced rider and completed the Western States Trail Ride that year. It had been an amazing experience riding day and night across the High Sierra. She married Joseph Thomas McCarthy (1945-) in 1969, who was in the army and soon was sent off to fight the war in Vietnam.
Joseph McCarthy in 1969
After returning from the war, Capt. McCarthy was stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas. He became the leader of an adventure team consisting of many Vietnam veterans still in the service.
As McCarthy was looking for a hard endurance adventure to test his team, his wife, Mary, proposed that the team try to cover the Western States Trail on foot, with the horses, during the Western States Trail Ride that year.
General Edward Flanagan
McCarthy loved the idea and received initial approval from Fort Riley post commander, General Edward M. Flanagan, Jr. (1921-2019), who had formed the adventure team, part of the 6th Battalion of the 67th Air Defense Artillery Regiment. Having the team climb over the Sierra for 100 miles in military-issue leather boots and fatigues could be viewed as “fun” for recruiting purposes.
Plans for the March
Wendell Robie
Early in 1972, McCarthy contacted Wendell Robie (1895-1984), the president of the Western States Trail Ride to ask permission for his team to march the trail during the upcoming ride. He explained to Robie, “The Army has a new program of providing its men with challenges that give them an opportunity to see the country. It’s adventure training, providing an incentive challenge, rather than marching in circles.” Robie was thrilled about the idea and had visions that Auburn would someday be the endurance capital of the world. He pledged his support and planned to prepare a “first finisher on foot” trophy. In February,
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