Kinetics fans work to revamp Boulder race

Heath Urie, Daily Camera

Published November 2, 2007 at midnight

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BOULDER — A group of self-described "kineticists" say they're working toward planning a revamped version of Boulder's 27-year-old Kinetic Sculpture Challenge after KBCO managers said this week that the event will be "suspended" in 2008 for financial reasons.

"Everybody's brainstorming," said 58-year-old Ed Pomponi, a Boulder resident who has participated in 25 Kinetics races of human-powered crafts at the Boulder Reservoir. "None of us who's been involved for this long wants to see it die."

Officials at Boulder radio station KBCO (97.3 FM) said Wednesday that the longtime race of silly crafts on both land and water — which for many Boulder residents is synonymous with the start of spring — has become a financial liability for Clear Channel Communications as attendance has dropped and city restrictions on the event have increased.

But Pomponi said most of the financial issues could be rectified by simply scaling down the race, giving it more of a community-event feel.

"It just got too big, too out-of-hand, with too many expenses," Pomponi said. "It really never was intended to be like that. We need to get it back to where it's manageable again."

To that end, several Kinetics supporters have started scouting for new locations, new sponsors and new ideas to ensure the Boulder tradition stays alive next year.

Boulder resident Paul Bailey, also a longtime participant in the sculpture challenge, said he already is seeking potential corporate sponsors and smaller area businesses that might help out.

Bailey suggested locations such as the Baseline Reservoir, Cherry Creek Reservoir or Chatfield Reservoir could serve as appropriate substitutes for Boulder Reservoir, which he said has become overly regulated by city officials.

"One of the issues ... is that, over the last few years, the city of Boulder has gotten less and less cooperative with Kinetics," he said. "It may be actually a blessing in disguise not to have to deal with the city of Boulder on this, if we can do it."

KBCO program director Scott Arbough also partly blamed the suspension on city regulations, which he said includes the need to "strip search" cars and people at the reservoir for alcohol and other contraband.

Boulder officials said Wednesday that the city's regulations are appropriate for an event the size of Kinetics, which ranged in size from 6,000 to about 40,000 people.

Some Kinetics supporters have also suggested moving the race to nearby Nederland.

Nederland town administrator Jim Stevens said Thursday it would be a good thing to host the event in the mountain community, although plans for any potential race in town would have to be reviewed by a technical review committee and approved by the town trustees.

Bailey said there are enough existing crafts from previous Kinetics races and enough interest from new teams to pull together the event by next spring, but the challenge of finding a nonprofit or corporate sponsorship to cover the expense of liability insurance remains.

Other costs could be kept down by limiting the event to a simple race, Bailey said.

"It would be a very simple level compared to what you've seen in the past, but we could still do something," he said. "I think it's worth preserving."

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