46th Annual Mt. Washington Road Race Scheduled for June 17, 2006
7.6 Miles up the Mt. Washington Auto Road (summit 6288 feet)
Top US Field Gathers for Mountain Championship
Anna Pichrtova goes for Fifth Win
Gutierrez, at 40, Still Leads Men's Field

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Posted Thursday, 18 May, 2006

The United States’ best uphill runners will gather in Pinkham Notch, New Hampshire, next month when the Mt. Washington Auto Road hosts the 2006 U.S. National Mountain Running Championship. On Saturday, June 17, the 46th annual Mt. Washington Road Race will match the top mountain runners
from New England and the Rockies, plus some from Canada and Europe, against one of the most challenging footrace courses anywhere in the world.

Sponsored by Northeast Delta Dental, the Mt. Washington Road Race is an unbroken 7.6-mile ascent to the summit of Mt. Washington, at 6288 feet above sea level the highest peak in the northeastern United States. Making the challenge even more severe is the always unpredictable Mt. Washington weather, famous for its outrageous wind and layers of fog and cloud. Approximately 1000 runners, most chosen by lottery from an applicant pool of nearly twice that number, will compete against each other and, as always, against the mountain itself.

For the second time in three years, the annual “Run To the Clouds” serves as this sport’s U.S. national championship. Also, since the first three male and two female merican finishers will win places on the U.S. National Mountain Running Team that will compete in September for the World Mountain Running Trophy in Turkey, it is no surprise that the field is the deepest in the race’s long history.

Still, there are favorites. In the men’s race, Simon Gutierrez of Taos, New Mexico, returns in excellent shape to try for his fourth win in five years. Gutierrez, who not only trains at the high altitudes of New
Mexico but also has more pure speed than most mountain runners, placed third here in 1998, fifth in 1999, and then won it in 2002, 2003 and 2005. Having recently turned 40, Gutierrez now has the added incentive of trying to win the master’s prize and perhaps break the over-40 course
record of 1:02:12, set last year by three-time former Mt. Washington winner Matt Carpenter of Colorado. (The men’s open record for the course, set in 2004 by World Mountain Running Champion Jonathan Wyatt of New Zealand, is a dizzying 56 minutes 41 seconds.)

The women’s favorite, 33-year-old Anna Pichrtova of the Czech Republic, has been even more dominant. The only woman ever to win Mt. Washington four times, Pichrtova was first to the Mt. Washington summit each year from 2001 through 2004. Last year, she was second by 15 seconds, edged out in the final yards by two-time World Champion Melissa Moon of Wellington, New Zealand. Moon, who was just two seconds slower than the course record set in 1998 by Sweden’s Magdalena Thorsell (1:10:08.2), is not returning to defend her title this year.

MEN’S FIELD:
No matter how well prepared he is, Gutierrez can expect ample competition. Eric Blake of Plattsburgh, NY, who battled Gutierrez until the final half mile last year before finishing second, is returning for another attempt.

So is Paul Low of Belchertown, Massachusetts, who finished second at Mt. Washington in 2004, one place ahead of Gutierrez and behind only Jonathan Wyatt of New Zealand, who that year smashed the Mt. Washington course record by clocking a time of 56:41. (Wyatt, like Moon, has no plans to make the trip from New Zealand this year.) As first American finisher that year, Low won the 2004 U.S. Champion’s title.

One other entrant who knows what it’s like to beat Low on a difficult course is Greg Hexum, 35, of Duluth, Minnesota. Hexum is making his first appearance at Mt. Washington, but in March he and Low finished 1-2 in the U.S. National Snowshoe Championship race in Bolton Valley, Vermont.

An outstanding young competitor who hopes to improve on last year’s place is Kevin Tilton, 24, from nearby Conway, N.H. Tilton last year place fifth and had plenty of opportunity to consider what it may take to get in front of Low, Blake and Gutierrez. He’ll be joined by Josh Ferenc, also 24, of South Ackworth, N.H., who finished seventh at Mt. Washington in 2004, when Tilton was tenth, and then a disappointing eleventh last year. Bill Raitter, 36, of Estes Park, Colorado, returns for his second Mt. Washington race, having placed ninth here two years ago.

First-time entrants who could shake up the race include 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;and William (Ricky) Gates, 25, of Boulder, Colorado.

WOMEN’S FIELD:
The women’s field is equally packed with competitors, including some who, like Gutierrez, are on the mature side of 40. Anita Ortiz, 42, of Eagle, Colorado, was second in her only previous appearance here, in 2002. Acclaimed as “Queen of the Hill” by Runner’s World magazine in 2004, Ortiz will be running to beat Pichrtova or at least to finish as first American, thus winning the national mountain title and a spot at the world championships. She’ll also have a chance to challenge the women’s masters course record, 1:16:03, set in 1997 by 1984 Olympic gold medalist Joan Samuelson.

For the U.S. title Ortiz will have to contend with 26-year-old Liza Grudzinski, of Harriman, New York, who was the first female American finisher at Mt. Washington in her 2004 debut, third behind Moon and Pichrtova. Three other formidable contenders are 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, who was fourth here in 2002; and 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.

The race offers greater suspense because it will include several women with excellent records elsewhere who have not competed at Mt. Washington before. Among those rumored to be particularly strong are 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.

MASTERS:
Other top masters in the women’s field include the 2004 and 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, who trains in the not particularly hilly environment of Dayton, Ohio.

All of them, including Pichrtova, will be watching out for 43-year-old Izabela Zatorska of Glowienka, Poland, a world-class mountain runner who in 2002 beat both Pichrtova and Melissa Moon in a major international mountain race. Zatorska will be racing Mt. Washington for the first time.

In the male masters field Gutierrez has loads of company. After two years’ absence from the race, Craig Fram, now 47, of Plaistow, New Hampshire, will return with a chance to reclaim his master’s title and possibly try to retake the master’s record, which he originally set in 2001 and then lowered in 2003 (to 1:03:27). Joining him are the othertwo 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.

Other experienced masters this year include Andy Ames, 43, of Boulder, Colorado, and Joseph Aloyisius McVeigh, 42, of Convent Station, N.J. A strong newcomer is 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 ourse record.

The men’s and women’s over-50 fields as usual will bring back some of New England’s most remarkable runners. The top senior women include Dot Helling, 56, of Montpelier, Vermont; Rebecca Stockdale-Woolley, 55, of Chaplin, Connecticut; and Louise Voghel, 51, of St. Armand, Quebec.

The top men over 50 include three former Mt. Washington winners: 1972 winner Roland Cormier, 66, of West Springfield, Massachusetts; 1973 winner John Cederholm, 63, of Marion, Massachusetts; and everyone’s favorite all-time King of the Mountain, Bob Hodge, 50, of Canton, Massachusetts, who won this race seven times between 1976 and 1987.

The field also includes 50-year-old Paul Donato, Jr., of Lynnfield, Mass., whose father won this race in 1937, and 42-year-old Scott Edwards of Stonington, Connecticut, son-in-law of the 1961 Mt. Washington Champion John J. Kelley. Kelley, now 75, is expected to serve as the race’s honorary starter this year.

Built in 1861 as the Mt. Washington Carriage Road, the course climbs 4700 vertical feet at an average grade of 11.5 percent. Besides the steepness of the road, runners must contend with the notorious Mount Washington weather. On race day, temperatures are sometimes in the 70s at the base but in the 40s at the summit, with winds gusting as high as 40-60 mph, and with various kinds of precipitation. The highest wind speed ever recorded in the world was on Mount Washington: 231 mph.

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

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

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