44th Annual MT. WASHINGTON ROAD RACE

WYATT SMASHES RECORD; PICHRTOVA WINS FOURTH IN A ROW

Pinkham Notch, N.H. - June 19, 2004

World Mountain Running Champion Jonathan Wyatt of New Zealand came to the White Mountains of New Hampshire this week with one explicit goal: to break the course record in the Mount Washington Road Race.
Despite fog, clouds, rain and wind gusting over 30 mph., Wyatt pulled quickly ahead of one of the strongest fields in the race's history and stormed up the 7.6-mile Mount Washington Auto Road in 56 minutes 41 seconds, breaking that record by an astonishing one minute and forty seconds.

"I knew I had to go out quickly," said the 31-year-old Wyatt, who earlier in the week had run the course for practice, "and at halfway I thought I had (the record). I had looked at the winning times from previous years, and I thought I could do it."

Paul Low of Amherst, Massachusetts, who finished second, six and a half minutes behind Wyatt, summed up the New Zealander's talents. "Jonathan is the best uphill runner in the solar system. Probably in several solar systems."

While Wyatt was winning his Mt. Washington debut in awe-inspiring fashion, Anna Pichrtova [Pronunciation: "PEEKH-er-TO-va."] of the Czech Republic was setting yet another record in this race, becoming the only woman to win it four times -- and in fact four times in a row. As she has for the past three years, Pichrtova, 31, led all women in the race from the starting cannon to the finish, and, despite the wind and the wet surface, she ran her fastest-ever time here, one hour 12 minutes 19 seconds.

Pichrtova said she thought she, too, could have broken a course record, except that the weather was too great an obstacle. "The wind was blowing me from side to side!" she exclaimed after her victory. "I couldn't run against the wind."

Sponsored by Northeast Delta Dental, the race awarded Wyatt a bonus of $5000 promised to any man or woman who could break the men's or women's existing course record. Wyatt smashed the old record, 58:21, run in 1996 by Kenyan uphill phenomenon Daniel Kihara. The women's record, set in 1998 by Magdalena Thorsell of Sweden, is 1:10:08.

Second woman in the race was Erica Larson, a 32-year-old chemist and trail runner from Los Alamos, New Mexico, who overtook former Olympian Cathy O'Brien in the early part of the race and ran steadily to a finishing time of 1:14:17. "It was great!" said Larson. "My arms are freezing!"

As the first U.S. citizens to finish today's race, Low and Larson won the USA Mountain Championship, an annual contest inaugurated last year in Vail, Colorado, held at the Mt. Washington Race this year, and due to be held here again in 2006.

Additionally, today's contest served as a selection race for the Teva U.S. Mountain Running Team. Joining Low and Larson on that team, which will compete in the World Mountain Championships in September in Italy, will be Simon Gutierrez, 38, of Taos, New Mexico, who won the Mt. Washington race last year and finished third today in 1:04:17; Eric Blake, 25, of Plattsburgh, N.Y., who was fourth in 1:04:30, and Laura Haefeli, 36, of Del Norte, Colorado, who was third female finisher in 1:17:42.

"This is my kind of weather -- wind and fog," said Haefeli, a part-time beekeeper and mother of three young children. "I'm psyched! I met both my goals: to break an hour twenty, and to finish in the top five."

O'Brien, 36, who won this race in 1997, eventually fell back and finished ninth today in 1:23:29. "It was tough. I had some problems breathing," she said. A resident of Durham, she won the Crossan Cup and $100 prize awarded to the first male and female finishers from New Hampshire. The men's winner of that cup was 22-year-old Joshua Ferenc of Westmoreland, N.H., who placed seventh overall in 1:06:21.

Top masters (over 40) finishers were Andy Ames, of Boulder, Colorado, and Cathy Pearce, of Chelmsford, Massachusetts. Ames, 41, who finished fifth in this race nine years ago, was nearly as good, taking sixth overall in 1:06:10. Pearce, a similarly seasoned Mt. Washington competitor, was fourth woman overall in 1:18:54.

Top finishers:

Men:

1.Jonathan Wyatt, 31, Wellington NZ, 56:41 - $1000 plus $5000 bonus
2.Paul Low, 30, Amherst MA, 1:03:12 - $600
3.Simon Gutierrez, 38, Taos NM, 1:04:17 - $400
4.Eric Blake, 25, Plattsburgh NY, 1:04:30 - $200
5.Mark Werner, 32, Rochester MI, 1:06:02 - $100
6.Andy Ames, 41, Boulder CO, 1:06:10 - $300 (first master)
7.Joshua Ferenc, 22, Westmoreland NH, 1:06:21 - $100 (first N.H. man)
8.Eric Morse, 39, Berlin VT, 1:06:46
9.Bill Raitter, 34, Bend OR, 1:06:56
10.Kevin Tilton, 22, Conway NH, 1:07:10

Women:

1.Anna Pichrtova, 31, Czech Republic, 1:12:19 - $1000
2.Erica Larson, 32, Los Alamos NM, 1:14:17 - $600
3.Laura Haefeli, 36, Del Norte CO 1:17:42 - $400
4.Cathy Pearce, 41, Chelmsford MA 1:18:54 - $200, plus $300 (first master)
5.Kelli Lusk, 34, Amherst MA, 1:21:41 - $100
6.Nikki Kimball, 33, Elizabethtown NY, 1:22:07
7.Kari DiStefano, 45, Telluride CO, 1:23:05
8.Lisa Goldsmith, 39, Nederland CO, 1:23:13
9.Cathy O'Brien, 36, Durham NH, 1:23:29 - $100 (first N.H. woman)
10.Barbara McManus, 36, Worcester MA, 1:23:35

For a complete list of all finishers, sortable by name, town or state, go to Granite State and click on "Mt. Washington." (In many cases this transmission will include information about finishers from your state or circulation area.)