1997 Additional Story
By John Stifler
Also Cathy O'Brien's win
Also Race Report
Only One Hill & Only One Record
If you have never run Mt. Washington before, you probably have never seen the back of the "T" shirt, with the words "Only One Hill". The only flat part of the course is the first 300 meters and then it's all up hill for over 7 miles.
Yesterday was your typical Mt. Washington, hot and humid at the start, windy and foggy at the finish. At about the 6 mile mark everyone was enveloped in a sea of dense fog, resulting in visibility of sometimes less than 10 feet. Winds of over 50 miles and hour at the same time, made running very challenging. Look at the times for both the men's and women's and you will see the impact of the wind.
Look at the finish line photo and you'll get an idea of the visibility or lack of it.
Typically at Mt. Washington, several age group records are broken .Last year there were 6. Due to the weather, this year there was only 1 race record broken. Guess who ? The new Women's Masters record holder is Joan Benoit Samuelson with a time of
1:16:03.
Cathy Obrien started off very strong with the gun and had established a strong lead by the first mile, which she never relinquished and finished in with the impressive time of 1:12:24. Julie Peterson was in second place for about two miles, with Joan in third and Jacqueline Gareau, three time winner, in fourth place. Joan wore Julie down by mile two but could not make up the distance on Cathy.
The men's race was even closer. In a pre-race interview with the CMS machine, Craig Fram indicated that he was not in top shape and that everyone expected Eric Morse to take the honors. 
Eric did go out very strong and by mile one had established a 30 second lead.
By mile 4 his lead was shrinking and at approximately mile 5 Craig Fram had overtaken Eric and never lost the lead.
The race is much more than the top ten places. It is an experience not to be missed. Runners from every state in the country and many other countries travel many miles to battle with the mountain. After crossing the finish line you could hardly see your hand, let alone any of the cheering spectators. By the time you passed through the chutes you had no idea where you were, where your clothes were and where to find your lift down the mountain. This gave you a few moments of complete isolation, and possibly panic, in which to reflect on " why did I run 7.2 mile up a mountain and why should I bother doing it again next year. By the time most runners had found their rides and were on their way down to the post-race celebrations, they were ready to plan for next year's race. Mt. Washington entries are done by lottery and it is more difficult to get a number than Boston, but there are very few complaints after the race.
Yesterday was also a win for technology. We were able to post the complete results and finish line photos from the top of the mountain by 1:30 pm, approximately 30 minutes after the last runner crossed the finish line and long before most runners were at the celebrations.
A special congratulations to the Massage Team . Not only did they perform dozens of massages before the race, most of them ran the race, ran back down the mountain, and completed another hundred or so massages back at the base camp. Not bad !
By John Stifler
1997 Photo album
For complete results and photos visit the results section
For all race reports visit the race report section
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