Cranmore Hill Climb Hosts USA Mountain Running Championship
Nine members of U.S. Mountain Running Team to compete along with Anna Pichrtova, 5-time winner at Mt. Washington

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Posted Thursday, 14 June, 2007

NORTH CONWAY, N.H. - June 2007 is a busy month for mountain running in the Mt. Washington Valley. After the Mount Washington Road Race on June 16, the 20th Cranmore Hill Climb at Cranmore Mountain Resort on Sunday, June 24 will host the USA Mountain Running Championship with some of the best mountain runners from across the country coming to compete. Nine past members of the Teva U.S. Mountain Running Team are expected at the race.

The race also serves as a qualifying race for the Teva U.S. Mountain Running Team, with the top 2 male runners and top female runners in the U.S. Mountain Championships getting automatic spots on the Mountain Team. Team members must be USATF members and U.S. citizens. The Mountain Team will be competing against the world's best at the World Mountain Trophy Race this September in Sauillon, Switzerland.

The race at Cranmore will feature three 4.3 K laps up and down the mountain for men and two 4.3K laps up and down the mountain for women. Junior men will run two laps and Junior women will run one lap. This year's course has been set up to mimic the WMRT course in Switzerland. It features a 3K ascent with an extremely fast and steep 1.3K descent.

This year's Hill Climb features $1000 for the USA Mountain Championships and additional prizes provided by sponsors Inov-8 trail shoes, Julbo sunglasses and FuelBelt. The race is also sponsored by Windermere Real Estate of Teton Valley, WY. Windermere and Fuel Belt are also sponsors of the Teva U.S. Mountain Running Team.

On the men's side, the field includes:

Paul Low, 33, Belchertown, MA is a seven-time Teva U.S. Mountain Running Team member and a three-time USATF Mountain Runner of the year. Paul is coming off of two strong wins at the Mt. Wachusett and Pack Monadnock race, the first two in the USATF-NE Mountain Circuit.

Kevin Tilton, 25, Conway, NH is a two-time member of the Teva U.S. Mountain Running Team and has finished as high as 5th at the Mount Washington Road Race. Kevin won the Cranmore race the last time it served as an uphill-only race in 2004.

Josh Ferenc, 25, South Acworth, NH, a member of the 2004 Teva U.S. Mountain Running Team, was a two-time All-American runner at Keene State. The top New Hampshire finisher at the 2004 Mt. Washington Road Race most recently won the USATF-NE 10K Grand Prix race in a time of 31:32.

Dmitry Drozdov, 34, Waltham, MA, a mountain, road and adventure racer, won the 1996 NCAA steeplechase title for Iowa State and beat out Paul Low to take first place at the 2006 Northfield Mountain race in Northfield, MA.

Joe Dare, 21, Souderton, PA, is new to mountain running but is coming off a strong senior year at LaSalle University in Philadelphia where he ran a 29:25 10,000m at the Penn Relays.

Sylvester Coons, 34, Verdi, NV finished 7th at World Snowshoe Championships in Austria in 2007.

On the women's side, five-time Mt. Washington Road Race winner Anna Pichrtova of the Czech Republic, who just finished 8th at the San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon, will be competing against a strong field of U.S. women. They include:

Nicole Hunt, 37, Deer Lodge, MT was the top U.S. finisher (9th overall) at last year's World Trophy and led the USA to its first team gold medal. Her most recent races include a win at the Great Aloha Run in Honolulu this past February and fifth place at the World's Richest Mountain Race (Mt. Obudu in Nigeria) last November. Nicole is also running at the Mount Washington Road Race, where she was the top U.S. finisher in 2006.

Chris Lundy, 36, Sausalito, CA is a two-time member of the Teva U.S. Mountain Running Team. She was on the gold medal squad at last year's World Trophy finishing 15th overall and was 18th overall, second American, at the World Mountain Trophy Race in Wellington, New Zealand in 2005. Chris recently finished as the 5th American at the 2007 Boston Marathon.

Anita Ortiz, 43, Eagle, CO is a four-time member of the Teva U.S. Mountain Running Team and a member of the 2004 U.S. women's team who won a bronze medal at the World Trophy race in Italy. Ortiz is coming off of a stellar snowshoe racing season, where she won almost every race she entered, setting 4 course records along the way and winning the Colorado Snowshoe Championships. In April 2007, she also won the Spring Desert Ultra Trail Race 25 miler in Fruita, CO and most recently won the TEVA Mountain Games 10K Cytomax Trail Championships in Vail, Colorado. She set course records at both of these races as well.

Kelli Lusk, 37, Belchertown, MA, a three-time member of the Teva U.S. Mountain Running Team, is coming off a recent win at the Pack Monadnock 10 Mile mountain race that is part of the USATF-NE Mountain Running Circuit. She was the 7th overall finisher at the 2006 Mt. Washington Road Race and is a past U.S. snowshoe national champion and past winner of the Barr Mountain Trail Race in Colorado.

Julie Bryan, 39, Jackson Hole, WY, a four-time member of the Teva U.S. Mountain Running Team, has two top 10 finishes at Mt. Washington and is a versatile mountain runner with numerous victories on her home turf in Jackson Hole and also wins in Colorado including the Barr Trail Mountain Race.

Keri Nelson, 25, Grand Junction, CO, is a competitive cyclist, triathlete, snowshoe racer and mountain and ultra runner. In 2007, she was 1st at the North American Snowshoe Championships and 2nd at the U.S. Snowshoe National Championships. She was also first at the U.S. Winter Triathlon Nationals in Breckenridge, CO and in 2006 was 3rd at the Pikes Peak Marathon and 3rd at the Mt. Evans Ascent in Colorado.

Although there will be a strong field of top runners, the Hill Climb is still open to runners of all ages and abilities. Registration is still available. Cost is $15 before June 18 and $20 from June 18 through the day of the race. Online registration is available at www.WhiteMountainMilers.com

For more information about the Cranmore race, contact race director Paul Kirsch at pkirsch@roadrunner.com or call (603) 367-8676.

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