Race History
|
Credit for the first timed run up Mt. Washington goes to George Foster, who performed the feat in 1904 when he was a medical student, to impress his friends. He completed the climb in 1:42 - faster than any automobile had ever made the trip. In 1936 some of Dr. Foster's friends organized a Mt. Washington road race in his honor. Twelve runners finished. The race was held again in 1937 and 1938, with larger fields each time. During the war years the race was forgotten, but it was held again in 1961 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Mt. Washington Carriage Road. Boston Marathon champion John J. Kelley won that year, beating 78 other runners. In 1962, 40- year-old former coal miner Fred Norris won in the stunning time of 1:04:57, which stood for 40 years as the masters' record. After a 3-year hiatus the race resumed in 1966 and has been run annually since. In 1972 Charlotte Lettis became the first official female finisher, leading the way for subsequent winners including Martha Rockwell, Christine Maisto, Peg Donovan, Jacqueline Gareau (the only other Boston Marathon champion besides Kelley to win at Mt. Washington) and J'ne Day-Lucore, who in 1992 set the women's course record of 1:11:45.5. Other outstanding male runners have included Mike Gallagher, who won the race four years in a row (1968-71); the late Gary Crossan, also a four time winner; Bob Hodge, who proved himself king of this mountain seven times between 1976 and 1987; Dave Dunham, who set a course record in 1988, came back in 1989 to outsprint Hodge by 1.5 seconds, and then, after finishing second three times and third once, won again in 1994; New Zealand's Derek Froude, who in unusually good weather in 1990 became the first person to run up the 7.6-mile Mt. Washington Auto Road in under one hour, clocking 59:17; and Matt Carpenter of Colorado Springs, who beat Froude and Dunham in 1992, then defended his title in 1993 with the second sub-one-hour performance - 59:50, and two Kenyan champions, Gideon Mutisya of Kenya in 1995 and, in an awe-inspiring demonstration of hill-running, Daniel Kihara, who in 1996 demolished the field with a record time of 58:20.05. In 1997 two Granite Staters won, Craig Fram of Plaistow and Cathy O'Brien of Durham, while 1984 Olympic marathon gold medalist Joan Samuelson set a new masters record of 1:16:03. The 1998 race was won by Matt Carpenter again while Swede Magdalena Thorsell broke the women's record with a blazing 1:10:08.2 The race in 1999 saw 10 individual age group and 5 team records established in near-perfect conditions. Up front, three-time winner Matt Carpenter of Colorado dueled course record holder Daniel Kihara of Kenya to the fastest 1-2 finish in the race's history. Kihara won in 59:03 with Carpenter just 13 seconds back. Barbara Remmers, NY, lowered her '98 third place debut time by over eight minutes to win in 1:13:52.
In the 40th anniversary race on June 17, 2000, the women's race was won for the first time by a Kenyan. Alice Muriithi won in 1:17:26, and fellow countryman Daniel Kihara, returned to defend in 59:24. Jacqueline Gareau's time of 1:18:43 established the only record for the day in the women's 45-49 age category. In 2001 Daniel Kihara won yet again, but for the first time not breaking one hour. On a scorching hot day, he finished in one hour and six seconds. First woman that year was newcomer Anna Pichrtova, a seasoned mountain runner from the Czech Republic, living and training in the hills of Virginia. Pichrtova ran away from the field to finish in 1:13:48. In 2002, for the first time in its history the Mt. Washington Road Race was shortened on account of the weather. Pounded by wind and freezing rain on the upper slopes, volunteers setting up what was supposed to be the finish area could hardly maneuver, and Auto Road staff determined that too many people's safety would be in jeopardy if the race went to the summit. The finish line was moved to just below the halfway mark, so that the field ran 3.8 miles. In his third appearance at Mt. Washington, Simon Gutierrez of Albuquerque outdistanced Eric Morse and Craig Fram, as Kihara finished sixth. Pichrtova once again handily won the women's race. Gutierrez vowed to return and defend his title on the full-length course, and in 2003 he kept that promise. In the most exciting men's race since 1999, Gutierrez battled Fram and Kenyan master Andrew Masai from the start. Masai, the three-time masters champion at the Falmouth and Peachtree road races, took the lead before the three mile mark and looked like the winner until, approaching five miles, he began to feel the steep climb take its toll. Gutierrez reeled him in and went on to win in 1:02:54, while Fram not only also passed Masai but broke his own master's course record, taking second in 1:03:27. While the top men hammered away, Pichrtova once again made the hill look easy as she won her third Mt. Washington in as many attempts, in 1:12:50. In 2004, Anna Pichrtova became the only woman ever to win Mt. Washington four times - and four times in a row, no less - by once again running away from the competition and gliding to the summit in her fastest time ever here, 1:12:19. Meanwhile, two-time World Mountain Running Champion Jonathan Wyatt, a 31-year-old architect from New Zealand, demolished Daniel Kihara's record, as well as the entire rest of the field, by storming to the summit in 56 minutes 41 seconds. The 2005 race turned into a brilliant duel on the women's side, as world champion Melissa Moon of Wellington, New Zealand, came to Mt. Washington for the first time. Pichrtova drew on experience and fortitude, but Moon ran most of the race by hanging off Pichrtova's shoulder, then kicked in the final half mile to win in 1:10:11, less than three seconds slower than Thorsell's course record. Meanwhile in the men's race, Gutierrez recorded his third win, beating young Eric Blake of Connecticut. Blake returned in 2006 to win emphatically, outlasting Paul Low of Massachusetts, who had also finished second in 2004. Pichrtova reclaimed her title as queen of the mountain by recording her fifth victory here. She made a more dramatic appearance in 2007. The previous fall she had been seriously injured in a vehicle accident at a mountain race in Nigeria. Having returned to racing just a few weeks before Mt. Washington, Pichrtova showed little strain as she won here for the sixth time in seven years. Later that year she went on to win the World Mountain Trophy. The 2007 men's race was another runaway by Jonathan Wyatt, although not so stunning as the 2004 record-setting race. This time Wyatt finished in 1:01:25 - actually slower than Blake's 2006 time of 1:01:09 - with Low again the runnerup. The race has grown steadily in popularity, thanks to its reputation and to the generous support of its sponsors, Northeast Delta Dental and Bridgton Academy, and New England Runner magazine. The field each year is 1000 runners, with an equal number of would-be entrants turned away. Entrants are chosen by lottery except that places are reserved for former winners, the previous year's medalists and trophy and cash winners, winning team members, and elite runners.
For more historical information see the 2004 Cool Running article written by Skip Clever.
|
