John J. “The Younger” Kelley this year’s Honorary Starter of the 46th Annual Mt. Washington Road Race
Top Americans compete for U.S. National Mountain Team

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Posted Friday, 9 June, 2006

Saturday, June 17, 2006, 10 a.m.

Pinkham Notch, N.H., June 2, 2006

John J. Kelley, the only man ever to win both the Boston Marathon and the Mt. Washington Road Race, will be the guest of honor at the 46th annual Mt. Washington Road Race on Saturday, June 17, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Kelley, of Mystic, Connecticut, won the
Boston Marathon in 1957 and Mt. Washington in 1961. His return to Mt. Washington highlights not only the race’s long history but also the fact that the all-uphill race serves as the United States Mountain Running Championship for 2006.

Kelley, 75, is sometimes still referred to as “The Younger,” in tribute to his namesake, Johnny A. “The Elder” Kelley, who won the Boston Marathon twice (1935 and 1945) and ran it a total of 61 times. John J. “The Younger” Kelley ran Boston 32 times, finished second five times,
and also ran the marathon as a member of the U.S. Olympic team in Melbourne in 1956.

Sponsored by Northeast Delta Dental, the Mt. Washington Road Race is a 7.6-mile footrace up the Mt. Washington Auto Road to the mountain’s summit, at 6288 feet above sea level the highest peak in the northeastern United States. Each year, the race attracts a field of approximately 1000 runners.

Most of these are chosen by lottery from an applicant pool of twice that number; a few are invited on the basis of their previous performances here and in other mountain races, or their times in other significant competitions. This year the field is particularly competitive, since
the race has been designated the national championship and will therefore not only crown the 2006 male and female U.S. National Champions but will also be the primary selection race for the United States Mountain Running team, which will compete in the World Mountain Running Trophy race in Turkey in September.

John J. Kelley’s 1961 victory at Mt. Washington coincided with the 100th anniversary of the opening of this road, originally called the Mt. Washington Carriage Road. He made the ascent in one hour 8 minutes 54 seconds, nearly seven minutes faster than the winning times in the three
previous years the race had been held, 1936-1938. (The race was forgotten during World War II, then revived for the Auto Road Centennial.)

On Friday evening, June 16, 5:30 p.m., at the Eagle Mountain House in Jackson, N.H., Kelley will be the featured speaker for the annual pre-race talk, a time when veterans of the race discuss some of the challenges of the 7.6-mile “Run To The Clouds,” including how to pace
oneself and what to wear, as well as retelling some of the race’s history.

Several other former winners will return to the race this year, including 1972 Mt. Washington champion Roland Cormier, 66, of West Springfield, Massachusetts; 1973 winner John Cederholm, 63, of Marion, Massachusetts; and Bob Hodge, 50, of Canton, Massachusetts, who won this race seven times between 1976 and 1987. John J. Kelley is retired from running, but his son-in-law, 42-year-old Scott Edwards of Stonington, Connecticut, will compete. So will Paul Donato, Jr., 50, of Lynnfield, Mass., whose father won this race in 1937.

After his victory in 1961, Kelley returned in 1962 to defend his title but was beaten by 40-year-old English coal miner Fred Norris, who set a course record of 1:04:57 on a cold summer day when flakes of snow flew into the runners’ faces on the upper slopes. Their experience was a
reminder that Mt. Washington runners compete not only against each other, and against the remarkably steep grade (average 11.5 percent, with one stretch at 18 percent) but also against the notorious Mt. Washington weather, which includes damp fog, clouds, and some of the highest wind speeds in the world.

This year’s favorites are prepared. In the men’s race, Simon Gutierrez of Alamosa, New Mexico, will try for his fourth win in five years. Gutierrez, who won the race in 2002, 2003 and 2005, recently turned 40 and therefore will also be trying to break the master’s course record of
1:02:12, set last year by three-time former Mt. Washington winner Matt Carpenter of Manitou Springs, Colorado.

Gutierrez’s time here last year was just one hour and 54 seconds, so the over-40 record appears within his reach. The men’s open record for the course, set in 2004 by World Mountain Running Champion Jonathan Wyatt of New Zealand, is 56:41, a time that most experts consider nearly untouchable.

Carpenter hopes to return for this year’s race. He won in 1992, 1993 and 1998, placed second in 1999, and last year to placed fourth at the age of 40, setting a new masters course record of 1:02:12.

The favorite among the women once again is Anna Pichrtova, 33, of the Czech Republic, a seasoned international mountain-runner who won Mt. Washington four years in a row, 2001-2004, before being narrowly beaten last year by two-time World Champion Melissa Moon of Wellington, New Zealand. The women’s course record is 1:10:08, set in 1998 by Simon Gutierrez’s wife, Magdalena Thorsell of Sweden, who has not returned to the race. Pichrtova’s best time is 1:10:26, which she ran last year.

For a LIST OF ENTRANTS, sortable by alphabetical order, city/town or state, visit www.mountwashingtonroadrace.com and click on “Lottery Results.”

Even if Pichrtova wins the race, for what would be her fifth victory in six attempts, the women who are chasing her will be competing for a prize of comparable importance. The first female finisher who is an American citizen will win the U.S. National Mountain Championship, as will the first male.

Top American prospects this year include Liza Grudzinski, 26, of Harriman, New York, the first female American in 2005 and third overall behind Moon and Pichrtova; Laura Haefeli, 38, of Del Norte, Colorado, third at Mt. Washington in 2004 and first female American finisher in the 2005 World Mountain Trophy race; Julie Bryan, 38, of Jackson, Wyoming, fourth at Mt. Washington in 2002; Kelli Lusk, 36, of Belchertown, Mass., a former U.S. National Snowshoe Champion and veteran of the U.S. Mountain Running Team, who was third at Mt. Washington in 2003 and fifth in 2004; and first-time Mt. Washington contenders Nicole Hunt, 36, of Deer Lodge, Montana; Abigail Larson, 27, of Bozeman, Montana; Gretchen Ellis, 35, of Los Alamos, New Mexico; Christine Lundy, 35, of Sausalito, California; and Rachel Dobbs, 24, of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Several of this year’s top runners will also be competing in the masters division. One is Anita Ortiz, 42, of Eagle, Colorado, who placed second in her only previous appearance here, in 2002. Other top masters women are the 2004-2005 masters winner Cathy Pearce, 44, of Chelmsford,
Massachusetts; the 2003 masters winner Suzy West, 43, of Putney, Vermont; Lisa Goldsmith, 41, of Nederland, Colorado; Cindy O’Neill, 44, of Manitou Springs, Colorado; and Chari Walsh, 42, of Dayton, Ohio.

Another newcomer is Izabela Zatorska, 43, of Glowienka, Poland, who in 2002 beat both Pichrtova and Melissa Moon in a major international mountain race. Zatorska will test herself against not only Pichrtova and Ortiz but also against the Mt. Washington masters course record, 1:16:03, set in 1997 by Olympic gold medalist Joan Samuelson.

Aside from the fact that it does not include course record-holder Wyatt, the men’s field is loaded with competition. Top contenders include Eric Blake, 27, of New Britain, Connecticut, second to Gutierrez last year; Paul Low, 32, of Belchertown, Massachusetts, who was second to
Wyatt at Mt. Washington in 2004; Kevin Tilton, 24, from nearby Conway, N.H., who has run Mt. Washington several times, steadily improving each year and placing fifth in 2005; Josh Ferenc, also 24, of South Ackworth, N.H., who finished seventh at Mt. Washington in 2004; Bill Raitter, 36, of Estes Park, Colorado.

Among the top entrants who have never raced Mt. Washington before are two-time U.S. national team member Tim Parr of Flagstaff, Arizona; Michael Friedburg, 28, also of Flagstaff; Michael Selig, 28, of Golden, Colorado; Jeff Cambell, 34, of Atlanta, Georgia; William (Ricky) Gates, 25, of Boulder, Colorado; and U.S. National Snowshoe Champion Greg Hexum, 35, of Duluth, Minnesota.

Besides Gutierrez and possibly Carpenter, the masters’ field is full of other top mountain runners, notably including Craig Fram, 47, of Plaistow, New Hampshire. Fram won the race outright in 1997, then set the master’s record in 2001, and then lowered it in 2003 to 1:03:27.
Joining him are the other two best-known New England veterans of the race, three-time winner (1988, 1989, 1994) Dave Dunham, 42, of Bradford, Massachusetts, and Eric Morse, 41, of Berlin, Vermont, as well as Andy Ames, 43, of Boulder, Colorado; Joseph Aloyisius McVeigh, 42, of Convent Station, N.J.; and Martin Tighe, 48, of Providence, R.I.

New England Runner magazine offers a $2000 bonus to any male or female master who sets a new masters course record.

First prize in the race is $1000, with a bonus of $5000 for a course record.

Sponsor: NORTHEAST DELTA DENTAL
Masters record sponsor: NEW ENGLAND RUNNER
Associate sponsor: BRIDGTON ACADEMY
Associate sponsor: LA SPORTIVA GOLITE RUNNING TEAM

RECORDS: Men’s open ­ Jonathan Wyatt, New Zealand, 2004, 56:41.
Women’s open ­ Magdalena Thorsell, Albuquerque NM, and Sweden, 1998, 1:10:08.2
Men’s masters ­ Matt Carpenter, Manitou Springs CO 2005, 1:02:12.
Women’s masters ­ Joan Samuelson, Freeport ME, 1997, 1:16:02.7.

Race director: Bob Teschek, (603) 863-2537, racetime@gsrs.com
Press and elite athletes’ liaison: John Stifler (413) 585-0924, jstifler@econs.umass.edu.

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