Get your friends or coworkers together to show off your creativity and speed! Review this page for the details, then fill out your entry form. Deadline is Friday, October 17th (the Friday before the Coffin Races).
1. Build a Coffin. Each team will procure a coffin conforming to the Coffin Specifications. Race officials inspect all Coffins before the race. Coffins that do not pass inspection may march in the parade but not race. Any questions or disagreements will be forwarded to an event official.
2. Prizes. Awards are presented for the three fastest race times (1st, 2nd & 3rd place), Best Entourage, Best Coffin, and Best Emma. Awards are presented immediately following the last race in Soda Springs Park at the Bud Ford Pavilion.
3. A Major Award. The Coffin Cup is the face-off between the two fastest teams from Colorado’s only Coffin Races. The Emma Crawford Coffin Races of Manitou Springs and the Frozen Dead Guy Days Coffin Race of Estes Park. After all other races have finished, the first place Emma team will race against the 2025 Frozen Dead Guys Days champion for possession of the Coffin Cup. Win or lose, the fastest Emma team will travel to Estes Park to compete in the 2026 FDGD races (details TBD from FDGD).
4. Select your Posse. Each race team needs four pushers and one Emma. All racers, including Emma, must be 18+ or older. Entourage and parade participants may be all ages but should be limited to twelve people at a time. Entourage must leave racecourse area at conclusion of parade. Extra party members or pets must be pre-approved by the event coordinator via her email events@manitouchamber.com. Amateur racers only, NO professional athletes.
5. Protect Your People. All racers are encouraged to wear protective gear (knee guards, helmets, etc.). Emma is required to wear a helmet during the race. Please no hard hats!
6. Be on Time. All coffins, pushers, and Emma’s must be registered and in the parade line up area by 11:00 a.m. If you are NOT registered by that time, you will be considered a no show, and your spot will be given to the next team on the wait list. There will be no exceptions to this rule.
7. Racers Must Sign. All pushers and Emmas must sign a Hold Harmless Agreement on race day. Everyone is required to sign, no exceptions.
Coffin teams, Entourages, and Emmas will be judged during line-up in the staging area and from the stage during the parade. Arrive early to prepare your Coffin for the parade and judging. Participants are responsible for transporting their Coffins to and from the race.
One member of your race team is required to attend the “driver’s meeting.” The driver’s meeting will be immediately following judging and line-up, but before the parade starts. Rules, regulations and parade procedures will be reviewed. Teams will be notified of time and place of the driver’s meeting.
The parade begins at 12 noon SHARP.
To keep the parade moving along, we recommend limiting Coffin Entourages to twelve people.
All Coffin Racers must participate in the Parade of Coffins. Lineup will be in the following order: 1) Media and Sponsor Teams 2) Hearses 3) Coffin teams in reverse order of their registration numbers, i.e., Coffins #70, #69, #68, #67, etc.
After the parade, all Coffins circle back to the race staging area and remain in parade order so that teams at the end of the parade (Coffins #1, #2, #3 etc.) are now first to race.
In an effort to maintain a safe race course for all racers, parade participants and racers may not distribute anything to the crowd during the parade. Any team distributing parade swag will be disqualified. Displays of political statements will not be permitted on the race course in an effort to maintain a neutral atmosphere.
The race begins when the parade is over and racers have returned to the line-up (Coffin order #1 through #70).
The race course is approximately 585 feet (195 yards).
Each racing team consists of five members: four runners (or “Pushers”) to propel the Coffin and one driver (or “Emma”) to sit inside the Coffin. Three of the four Pushers must keep their “hands on” the Coffin at all time. Any Coffin that has less than three Pushers in direct contact with the Coffin during the race will be deemed “out of control” and will be disqualified. Pushers must hold onto the Coffin until it has crossed the finish line and stopped. Changing Pushers or Emmas during the heat is prohibited. In case of injury, a race official shall have the authority to allow a substitute.
Pushers will keep their Coffin in their own lane. Pushers and Coffins may touch the yellow, but not cross over it. Coffins that cross the yellow line will be disqualified. Pushers and/or Coffins interfering with the other team as a result of leaving their lane will be disqualified.
Protests can only be made by the race competitors. Protests must be directed to a race official within 10 minutes of the completion of the heat in question. Protests must be logical, reasonable, and based on sound evidence. Decisions by race officials are final.
Each heat will pit two Coffin teams against each other. The Coffin with the fastest time will be the winner of that heat.
The awards ceremony will be at the Bud Ford Pavilion at Soda Springs Park immediately after the last race. Awards are presented for
Emma will be crowned by the previous year’s Emma.
On the race application, each team indicates whether or not they would like to race for the “Coffin Cup” at Frozen Dead Guy Days in Estes Park, CO. Of those teams, the one with the fastest time will represent Manitou Springs and Emma Crawford Coffin Race at the Tuff Shed Coffin Race on Saturday, March 28th, 2026.
Note that Teams will need to alter their coffin to be carried, not wheeled, across an obstacle course.
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