Eric Blake from Connecticut and Anna Pichrtova from the Czech Republic triumphant at Mount Washington in 2006
Posted Saturday, 17 June, 2006
Pinkham Notch, N.H. June 17,2006, Eric Blake, a track coach from New Britain, Connecticut, is the new United States Mountain Running men’s champion, and Anna Pichrtova, a seasoned uphill runner from the Czech Republic, has reclaimed her title as Queen of the Mountain, as the two won today’s Mt. Washington Road Race up the highest peak in the Northeast.
Blake, 27, outdueled Paul Low, 32, of Belchertown, Mass., to win the 7.6-mile race up the Mt. Washington Auto Road in one hour one minute and 9 seconds. Pichrtova, 33, who won this race in each of her first four attempts (2001-2004) and then was a close second last year, reasserted
her dominance today to lead the women’s field from start to finish, crossing the line at the 6288-foot summit in 1:11:18.
“It was a good day, but I had no one to push me,” said Pichrtova afterward. Last year, she had fought an elbow-to-elbow battle with World Mountain Champion Melissa Moon of New Zealand before being outkicked in the final ultra-steep 300 yards of the race. Her time this year was half a minute slower, despite the nearly ideal weather and a rare windless day, with temperatures in the low-50s at the summit.
Her closest competition was Nicole Hunt, 36, of Deer Lodge, Montana, who tried to stay with Pichrtova but gave way by the end of the second mile and finished more than a minute behind, in 1:12:30. Hunt, however, was delighted with her performance, since, as the first U.S. woman to finish, she won the women’s U.S. Mountain Running Championship.
“I loved it!” said Hunt of this race, which drew a field of some 900 entrants. “It was a challenge, and I love challenges.”
Blake, the newly crowned men’s national mountain running champion, finished a close second here last year to three-time Mt. Washington champion Simon Gutierrez of Alamosa, Colorado. Today, Blake shared the lead with Low and newcomer Ricky Gates, 25, of Boulder, Colorado, until Gates dropped off the pace, and then at halfway Blake made the move that would put him in front the rest of the way.
“I knew I had a good chance of winning if I concentrated,” said Blake, who also finished 4th here in 2004. “I said to myself, ‘I can keep this pace, keep pushing, just run.’ With a mile to go, I looked back and Paul was still there, but if you hold your pace you won’t get passed.”
Low observed, “Eric made a move at halfway, and I was like, ‘I’d rather hang back now and have something left at the end.’ But in this race it takes a long time to pull someone back in. I’m disappointed, because I think in this race there are just two positions winner and finisher.” Low, who was also second here in 2004 and third last year, finished in 1:01:37.
Gutierrez moved quickly to the lead at the starting cannon, but as the runners moved up the unbroken ascent from base to summit it was obvious he could not hold that place, and for most of the rest of the way he battled with Gates for third place. Gates won that battle, in 1:03:31,
joining Blake and Low as members of the 2006 U.S. Mountain Running Team that will compete in the World Mountain Trophy race in Turkey in September.
Gutierrez, 40, settled for fourth place and the prize for first master (over 40) finisher.
Since this year’s race served as the United States Mountain Running Championship, the the first three U.S. male finishers and first two U.S. female finishers automatically qualified to compete as members of the national team. Along with Hunt, the other American woman qualifying
today was Laura Haefeli, 38, of Del Norte, Colorado, who finished third overall in 1:15:45. The third U.S. woman, 4th overall, was Christine Lundy, a 35-year-old veterinarian from Sausalito, California, in 1:17:52.
Top female master, and 5th overall, was Lisa Goldsmith, 41, of Nederland, Colorado, in 1:18:46.
Rounding out the men’s top five was Eric Morse, 41, of Berlin, Vermont. Morse, who has run this race nearly every year since the late1980s, started conservatively, trailing 20 other men in the first mile, but then steadily picked his way forward, passing younger and less experienced competitors and coming close enough to give Gutierrez a challenge for the masters’ prize. Morse finished in 1:04:38.
The race attracted a field of 900 entrants, most selected by lottery from more than 1700 applicants. Among the top foreign runners today were veteran mountain runner Izabela Zatorska, 43, of Glowienka, Poland, who was 9th woman in 1:22:02. Also running was 32-year-old Zablon Mokaya, of Nairobi, Kenya, who ran a steady race despite having arrived in New Hampshire late last night at the end of a 30-hour journey that began in Kenya and included being detained for two hours at a U.S. immigration office at Logan Airport. Mokaya finished 11th in 1:07:35.
Sponsored by Northeast Delta Dental, the race awards a prize of $1000 to the first male and female finishers, with a bonus of $5000 for a course record. The men’s course record, deemed to be nearly out of anyone’s reach, is 56:21, set in 2004 by World Mountain Running Champion Jonathan Wyatt of New Zealand. Wyatt has not returned to the race. Neither has Magdalena Thorsell, of Sweden, who set a women’s course record of 1:10:08 in her only appearance here, 1998.
Top finishers - Women:
1. Anna Pichrtova, 33, Upice, Czech Republic, 1:11:18
2. Nicole Hunt, 36, Deer Lodge, Montana, 1:12:30
3. Laura Haefeli, 38, Del Norte, Colorado, 1:15:45
4. Christine Lundy, 35, Sausalito, California, 1:17:52
5. Lisa Goldsmith, 41, Nederland, Colorado, 1:18:46
6. Carly Graytock, 27, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1:19:47
7. Kelli Lusk, 36, Belchertown, Massachusetts, 1:19:57
8. Abigail Larson, 27, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1:21:38
9. Izabela Zatorska, 43, Glowienka, Poland, 1:22:02
10. Barbara McManus, 38, Oakham, Massachusetts, 1:23:47
Top finishers Men:
1. Eric Blake, 27, New Britain, Connecticut, 1:01:09
2. Paul Low, 32, Belchertown, Massachusetts 1:01:37
3. William “Rickey” Gates, 25, Boulder, Colorado, 1:03:31
4. Simon Gutierrez, 40, Alamosa, Colorado, 1:04:06
5. Eric Morse, 41, Berlin, Vermont, 1:04:38
6. Michael Selig, 28, Golden, Colorado, 1:05:15
7. Michael Friedberg, 28, Flagstaff, Arizona, 1:06:01
8. Andy Ames, 43, Boulder, Colorado, 1:06:28
9. Ryan Pauling, 29, Rochester, NY, 1:06:56
10. Gregory Hexum, 35, Duluth, Minnesota, 1:07:13
For a complete list of finishers, which can be sorted by name, state or
hometown, see www.mountwashingtonroadrace.com.
For additional information about the race, phone press liaison John
Stifler at one of these numbers:
Saturday before 3:30 p.m. EDT 603-466-3988
Saturday evening and Sunday morning 603-383-9111 or 413-575-8744
Sunday afternoon 413-575-8744
After Sunday 8 p.m. 413-585-0924
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