Boulder Skyline Traverse Challenge Raises $14,008 for Suicide Prevention Education

Dawn was just peeking over the eastern horizon when 14 intrepid runners took off on the 16.3-mile Skyline Traverse Challenge. During the next several hours, the participants tackled the city’s five tallest peaks–South Boulder Peak, Bear Peak, Green Mountain, Flagstaff Mountain and Mount Sanitas–that together have an elevation gain of more than 6,300 feet.

In addition to training for this Challenge, they have been actively raising contributions to support suicide prevention education throughout Boulder and Broomfield counties. Though the first team to reach the event-end at the Ryan Wellness Center was Zach Roth and Mike Priddy with unofficial time of just over 4 hours and 35 minutes, the official Challenge Winner was the team of Diana Fields and Mark Griswold. Together, they raised $3,626, outpacing the second-place team of Bill Briggs and Dave Irwin who raised $2,455.

In total, $14,008 was raised to help launch Mental Health Partners’ new “Be 1 of 4098” suicide prevention campaign. These funds will help provide scholarships to individuals to receive trainings, as well as develop educational resources in Spanish and expand support groups around loss and interventions/crisis interventions in schools.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this campaign, the runners who participated and to Under the Sun Eatery & Pizzeria for hosting the Challenge After-Party. Please check out pictures from the Challenge and After-Party on MHP’s Facebook page.

Learn more about our “Be 1 of 4098” suicide prevention campaign! We have set a goal to educate 4,098 individuals by December 2019 on how to recognize the warning signs of someone contemplating suicide and how to effectively respond and intervene. Suicide prevention trainings empower communities by providing valuable information that is easy-to-understand and convenient to access. Sign up to “Be 1 of 4098” now.