History of the GEP
From ESS
The GEP concept was created by Scott Drum, Ph.D., in his 4th year as an Assistant Professor of ESS at Western State College of Colorado in Gunnison, CO, in the spring of 2008. Team GEP Co-Director, Tim Poppe, Physical Therapist at Physiotherapy Associates in Gunnison, CO, helped nurture the GEP idea and adds unbridled energy to the project. Both Scott and Tim share a passion for off-road, human powered events, such as ultra trail running, adventure running and lengthy mountain biking events, and a vision to push the limits of non-traditional athletes to achieve uncommon success.
In the Gunnison Valley, which is home to Gunnison and Crested Butte, Olympians abound, including Elva Dryer (two-time 10km track Olympian; WSC running alumni; sponsored by Nike), Michael Aish (two-time 5km track Olympian for New Zealand; WSC running alumni; sponsored by Nike), Rebecca Dussault (cross country skiing Olympian), Ingrid Butts (cross country skiing Olympian), and Susan DeMattei (bronze medal winner in mountain biking at Atlanta Olympics). Additionally, many local athletes are world class competitors, including Brian and Jenny Smith (Xterra off-road triathlon; sponsored by Trek); Brian Wickenhauser, Jari Kirkland, Erik Sullivan, and Jon Brown (world adventure racers; sponsored by Solomon and Crested Butte); and Dave Wiens (former world class mountain biker; winner of the Leadville 100 Mile Mountain Bike race the past 5-years in a row, including wins over Floyd Landis (2007), and Lance Armstrong (2008); sponsored by Ergon). All of these individuals are highly visible in the Valley and involved with coaching, race directing, and even non-profit entities, such as Gunnison Trails Association (directed by Wiens). Also, most of these athletes have been tested in the High Altitude Performance Lab at WSC and are aware of its benefits. Therefore, the creation of the GEP will help develop younger talent in the Valley who aspire to achieve the success of the role models that have run, biked, and skied before them.
Traditional Olympic level endurance athletes (such as those described earlier), especially track competitors, marathoners, and mountain bike racers, have access to Olympic caliber coaches and training tools. Because non-traditional athletes, such as ultra runners, US Mountain Running Team members, and ultra distance mountain bikers are equally competitive, train just as hard, and normally much longer in a day versus their Olympic level counterparts, Team GEP was founded to provide modest financial support and foremost a scientific based, holistic approach to training and racing that is education-based at WSC.
The idea “in a nutshell” is to nurture non-traditional endurance athletes as if they were Olympians and bring together a close knit, like-minded group of athletes, coaches, and professionals in order to create the best possible environment for achieving each team member’s goals and the mission of the GEP. The plan is to promote the Gunnison Valley, Team GEP, and all sponsors through excellence in training and racing while emphasizing the importance of living a healthy, active, outdoor lifestyle.
