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Full Results

Alice Muriithi, the first African woman ever to run the Mount Washington Road Race, made a strong debut today in the 7.6-mile uphill contest, beating all other women in a time of one hour 17 minutes 26 seconds.

Joining her on the winners' podium was her countryman Daniel Kihara, the race's defending champion and course record-holder, who once again blew away the rest of the men with his third sub-60-minute performance here in as many tries, a time of 59 minutes 24 seconds.

Muriithi, 26, who lives in Kenya but is training this summer in West Chester, Pennsylvania, took an early lead and held it the entire way to the summit. Next behind her, looking fitter than ever as she glided away from younger competitors, was 47-year-old Jacqueline Gareau, formerly of Montreal and now living in Boulder, Colo. Gareau, the only woman ever to win both the Boston Marathon -- she won that race in 1980, despite the momentary acclaim given to Rosie Ruiz -- and Mount Washington (1989, 1994, 1996), finished in 1:18:43.

"This race just goes on and on, you know?" said Gareau afterward, commenting on the grueling climb. "It doesn't end! But I love this race even more than the marathon. It's like playing!"

Kihara, 32, did not look as though he was playing. Fresh off the plane from Kenya, he said later, "I was not very strong today." Nevertheless, he was strong enough to run shoulder to shoulder with fellow Kenyan Joseph Kibor for the first five miles, then surge ahead into the clouds and through the finish-line tape.

"I thought Joseph was as strong as me," said the three-time champion. "He just faded."

"I never before ran a course of this sort!" said the 27-year-old Kibor. "It goes up, up, up all the way. I tried to stay with my friend (Kihara), but it is difficult. But it is also a lovely course, because everybody is trying his best to get to the top."

"Lovely, lovely!" repeated the other eminent Kenyan in the field, 40-year old Simon Karori. Karori, also a newcomer to the race, came to Mt. Washington with his sights set on the $4000 bonus promised to whoever could set a new men's or women's master's record. A three-time former champion at the great Falmouth Road Race, Karori has won the master's prize in nearly every race he has entered since turning 40, and he won it at Mt. Washington today, but he fell short -- far short -- of the master's record.

That record, which looms larger every year, is 1:04:57. It was set by Fred Norris all the way back in 1962, well before the running boom and the subsequent arrival of many great runners in the ranks of the 40-plus.

On a typical Mount Washington summer day -- warm and humid at the base, cold and windy and fogged in at the top, the best Karori could manage was a time of 1:11:25, good for ninth place overall. He beat formidable masters competition in the persons of Bob Ratcliffe, of Lincoln, Mass. (11th overall in 1:14:49) and Commander Mark Donahue of Newport, R.I., and the U. S. Navy (14th overall in 1:15:39).

Still, said Karori, "I think 59 minutes is possible, or 58."

Perhaps. But today only four men, all under 40, were faster than Norris used to be. Following Kihara and Kibor in third place was the most consistent Mt. Washington runner in the past decade, Dave Dunham of Bradford, Mass. Dunham, 36, ran the first half with his Central Mass. Striders teammate Eric Morse, then pulled away to finish in 1:02:48. Morse, 35, hung on for fourth place in 1:04:54. Dan Verrington, also of Bradford, rounded out the top five in 1:07:50.

Gareau, who knows this race well, fared slightly better in her attempt to win the $4000 bonus. She drove herself fiercely through the first four miles, passing the halfway point fast enough to threaten the master's mark set in 1997 by Joan Benoit Samuelson (1:16:03) but slowing down on the upper slopes. Nevertheless, she set a new record for women in the 45-49-year age bracket, knocking five minutes off the old age-group record set by Rebecca Stockdale-Woolley last year (1:23:54).

Fellow master Julie Peterson, 40, of Beverly, Mass., placed third overall in 1:23:00, her fourth 3rd-place finish here. Stockdale-Woolley was 11th overall, in 1:29:37. However, thanks to the World Association of Veteran Athletes handicapping system, which adjusts master's times based on their ages, she won the $150 cash prize for second master while Peterson picked up the $75 for third. Gareau won $250 as first master plus $500 as second woman overall. The handicapping system also awarded the masters cash prize to Sumner Brown, 56, of Belmont, Mass., ahead of Karori.

Muriithi was well off the women's open course record -- Magdalena Thorsell's 1:10:09, run in 1998 -- while Kihara's time was a minute slower than the 58:21 record he ran in his Mt. Washington debut in 1996. Muriithi and Kihara won $750 apiece for first place.

In all, nearly 1000 runners entered the race, and most finished. Temperatures were in the mid-70s at the base and reached 56 at the summit, which was also socked in at 50 feet of visibility for the fastest finishers and where the wind occasionally gusted to 50 mph.

Top ten men:
1.   Daniel Kihara, 32, Kenya, 59:24. 
2.   Joseph Kibor, 27, Kenya and Concord, Mass., 1:00:04. 
3.   Dave Dunham, 36, Bradford Mass. 1:02:48 
4.   Eric Morse, 35, Berlin, Vt., 1:04:54 
5.   Dan Verrington, 37, Bradford, Mass. 1:07:50 
6.   Mike Casner, 38, Keene, NH, 1:09:30. 
7.   Fergus Cullen, 28, West Hartford, Conn., 1:09:58 
8.   Richard Bolt, 29, Manchester NH, 1:10:45 
9.   Simon Karori, 40, Concord Mass., 1:11:25. 
10. Stephen Peterson, 34, Chelmsford, Mass., 1:13:35.

Top ten women:
1.   Alice Muriithi, 26, West Chester, PA, 1:17:26. 
2.   Jacqueline Gareau, 47, Boulder Colo., 1:18:43. 
3.   Julie Peterson, 40, Beverly, Mass., 1:23:00. 
4.   Suzy West, 37, Putney, Vt., 1:24:20. 
5.   Colleen Allen, 33, Newport Center, Vt., 1:24:49. 
6.   Kerry Arsenault, 35, Clinton, Conn., 1:27:00. 
7.   Catherine Lifschultz, 37, Sudbury, Mass. 1:27:17. 
8.   Nikki Kimball, 29, Elizabethtown NY, 1:28:11. 
9.   Donna Smyers, 42, Montpelier, Vt., 1:29:27. 
10. Karen McGahie, 38, Boylston, Mass., 1:29:28.

Accompanying this release you should find names and times of runners from your area.

For further information phone John Stifler, press liaison, at the following numbers:

Saturday afternoon - (603) 466-3988 Saturday evening and Sunday morning, June 17-18 - (603) 383-9111. Sunday evening and thereafter - (413) 585-0924