Organizers say the Rim Rock marathon and half marathon running through Colorado National Monument will proceed as normal despite a federal government shutdown that may deprive the park of its staff during the event.

“It’s an event that we’ve done for multiple years now, we’ve got a really good plan in place,” said Ben Snyder, executive director of Grand Junction Sports Commission, which has organized the Rim Rock Marathon and its half-marathon counterpart for the last several years. “We have the permit, we have the specific guidelines we need to follow, and we’re following those … The event wasn’t really fully reliant on the National Parks staff, although we’ve done a lot of work with them.”

While political fights play out in Washington, Snyder said his organization had received a few ca

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