42ND ANNUAL MT. WASHINGTON ROAD RACE Pinkham Notch, N.H. Saturday, June 15, 2002 7.6 Miles up the Mt. Washington Auto Road (summit 6288 feet)

NEW ENGLANDERS, ROCKY MOUNTAIN RUNNERS CHALLENGE EACH OTHER ON THE HILL. DELTA DENTAL SPONSORSHIP ATTRACTS STELLAR FIELD. NER MASTERS RECORD BONUS RENEWED.

On June 15th, the 42nd annual Mount Washington Road Race will once again pit hardcore New England hill-runners against widely traveled mountain runners from the West and abroad in the all-uphill race to the summit of the highest peak in the northeastern United States.

Sponsored by NORTHEAST DELTA DENTAL, this year's Run To The Clouds brings 1000 runners, most chosen by lottery from an applicant pool of twice that number, to the White Mountains of New Hampshire for a race that ascends 4650 vertical feet in 7.6 miles, at an average grade of 11.5 percent. The summit, 6288 feet above sea level, is often beset by the windiest and most unpredictable weather in the world.

Among the contests to watch in this year's race are these:

(1) Will someone break the men's masters record again? Last year Craig Fram of Plaistow, N.H., broke Fred Norris' amazing record for runners aged 40 and up. Norris' time of one hour 4 minutes 57 seconds had stood since 1962 (not a typo); Fram, a veteran of the Mount Washington race, finished in 1:04:28.6, adding his name to the folklore of New England running and collecting the cash bonus awarded by NEW ENGLAND RUNNER magazine. This year New England Runner (NER)is offering $2000 for any man (including Fram, ouch $$) who can beat Fram's time or any women who can crack Joan Samuelson's 1997 mark of 1:16:02.7 One of the strongest contenders is 40-year-old Richard Shelly from Albuquerque, New Mexico, who at one point last year was ranked among the top ten mountain runners in the world. Another is Fram himself. Another possible entrant in the masters field is Francis Kamau of Kenya.

(2) Will Anna Pichrtova improve on her winning time from last year, can she break the womem's course record, and will she hold off challenges from several other strong women in the field? Last year in her Mount Washington debut, Pichrtova floated away from the rest of the field to win in 1:13:48, three minutes ahead of runnerup Joan Samuelson. This year Pichrtova may have to contend with Alice Muriithi, the 2000 winner who did not run last year, and with Barbara Remmers of Blacksburg, Virginia, who won here in 1999. Pichrtova returns to Mount Washington having run a person best of 2:33 in the recent Los Angeles Marathon, where she was third female finisher.

(3) Will Simon Gutierrez break the one-hour barrier and will that be good enough to win the race? Gutierrez, of Albuquerque, N.M., finished third here in 1998 (the year his wife, Magdalena Thorsell, set the women's course record of 1:10:09) and fifth in 1999 with his personal best for the course of 1:01:39. This year he expects to compete for the top prize along with perennial contender and three-time champion Dave Dunham, possibly also with four-time champion and course record-holder Daniel Kihara. Kihara set his course record of 58:21 in 1996, then won again in 1999, 2000 and 2001, last year being the only year he took more than an hour to complete the race. As of this week, he is considering returning from Kenya to get back under the 60-minute mark in the Race With Only One Hill.

For a complete list of entrants, see the Mount Washington page of the Cool Running Web site.

Course: The Mount Washington Auto Road, first used in 1861. 7.6 miles, 4650 feet of ascent, 11.5 percent average grade, 30 percent at steepest point, summit 6288 feet.

Field: 1000 runners, chosen by lottery except for elite runners for whom the lottery is waived.

Sponsor: NORTHEAST DELTA DENTAL Masters record sponsor: NEW ENGLAND RUNNER Associate sponsor: DISTRIBUTION SERVICES OF AMERICA

Records: Daniel Kihara, Kenya, 1996, 58:20.5. Magdalena Thorsell, Albuquerque NM, and Sweden, 1998, 1:10:08.2 Men's masters - Craig Fram, Plaistow NH, 2001, 1:04:28.6. Women's masters - Joan Samuelson, Freeport ME, 1997, 1:16:02.7.

Contacts:

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