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

(May 18, 2002) n

KIHARA, PICHRTOVA WILL DEFEND THEIR TITLES AT MOUNT WASHINGTON; MURIITHI ALSO RETURNING POTENTIAL CHALLENGE FROM COLOMBIANS MASTERS BATTLE INTENSIFYING

Itis official: Kenyan Daniel Kihara, four-time winner (1996 and 1999-2001) and course record-holder, will return to defend his title n and, he says, break the course record again n at the Mt. Washington Road Race next month in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Heill be joined at the starting line by fellow reigning champion Anna Pichrtova of the Czech Republic, who last year glided to an impressive victory in her Mt. Washington debut. While Kihara plans to hold off one of the most competitive fields in the raceis history, Pichrtova will meet a womenis field that includes 2000 winner Alice Muriithi of Kenya, who did not compete in the 2001 race but is returning this year.

Kihara, the only person ever to complete this all-uphill 7.6-mile race in under one hour on three different occasions, has set for himself a new goal: Break the record so thoroughly that it will be many years before any other runner touches it. In 1996, he ran this race in 58 minutes 20.5 seconds, or nearly a minute faster than anyone else, ever. (New Zealander Derek Froude ran a time of 59:17 in 1990, and Matt Carpenter clocked his personal best for this course, 59:16, when finishing second to Kihara in 1999.)

Pichrtova, who lives and trains in Virginia, won last year in one hour 13 minutes 48 seconds. Since then, she has run a personal best of 2:33 in the recent Los Angeles Marathon, where she was third female finisher.

Muriithi, who won the 2001 Mount Washington race in 1:17:26 with little pressure from anyone else, will try to improve on that time this year.

Sponsored by NORTHEAST DELTA DENTAL, this yearis iRun To The Cloudsi boasts a particularly large field of serious contenders. Among the likeliest threats to crack the top five, possibly challenge Kihara are

Simon Gutierrez of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Gutierrez finished third here in 1998 (the year his wife, Magdalena Thorsell, set the womenis course record of 1:10:09) and fifth in 1999 with his personal best for the course of 1:01:39. Gutierrez, who has also lived with his wife in her native Sweden part of the time since the coupleis Mt. Washington debut, finished second overall in Swedenis running grand prix in 2000 and again last year. His current training is focused on making the U.S. Olympic Trials marathon in 2004.

Dave Dunham of Bradford, Massachusetts. Dunham won this race in 1988, 1989 and `94 has finished in the top three every other year in that span except for 1998, when he was fourth (behind Gutierrez, Carpenter and Kihara).

Scott Elliott of Boulder, Colorado. In 1990, Elliott finished third behind Froude and Dunham; he also ran Mount Washington in 1999, finishing ninth. After a long layoff in the late 1990s, he won the Pikeis Peak Ascent in 2000 (his seventh victory in that race) and placed second in that race last year.

Eric Morse of Berlin, Vermont. Morse, the 2001 USATF Mountain Runner of the Year, this month won the Mount Kearsarge (N.H.) trail race in the fifth-fastest time ever recorded there. He has finished in the top five at Mount Washington several times.

This yearis race may also include a contingent from Colombia, South America. Organizers have written letters of support for five runners from the Athletic League of Antioquia who are applying for visas to come to the race: Julian Berrio (fourth place in the Madrid Marathon this spring), Diego Colorado, Juan-Guillermo Jaramillo, William Naranjo and Jean-Paul Atehortua. All of them live at high altitude; several have substantial mountain-running experience. Confirmation of these entries will be published as soon as possible; for further information, see contact numbers at the end of this release.

Besides Muriithi, Pichrtovais main competition could come from Julie Bryan, a multi-sport athlete (kickboxing, telemark skiing) from Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Last year Bryan set the womenis course record in the Barr Mountain Trail Run in Colorado and ran on the U.S. Mountain Running Team in Italy.

Nikki Kimball, a trail and hill runner from Elizabethtown, N.Y., who has won several rugged events in the past two years in the Northeast and who this month set a new womenis course record at Mount Kearsarge. She will also compete this summer in the World Cup 100K.

Ellen McCurtin, winner of the Vermont 100-Mile ultramarathon, second in the Maine Marathon, winner or top-three finisher in several long endurance races in the past year.

Anita Ortiz of Eagle, Colorado. In the past year Ortiz has won the U.S. National Snowshoe Championship, set course records at the Americais Uphill race in Aspen, CO, and the Breckenridge Crest Marathon, and won the Pikeis Peak Ascent and the Vail Mountain Running Series.

Cathy Pearce of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, who placed third here last year.

Barbara Remmers of Blacksburg, Virginia, who won here in 1999 in 1:13:52.

Among the top men will be at least two or three in the masters (over-40) category. Defending masters champion Craig Fram of Plaistow, N.H., who last year broke Fred Norrisis 1962 masters record by finishing in 1:04:28.6, will return this year. He has said that he thinks he can run a minute or two faster than that time, if all goes well this year.

Heill have company. This year the race welcomes Richard Shelley from Albuquerque, New Mexico, a top-ranked mountain runner with considerable experience in Europe and the Rockies. Shelley has just turned 40.

So has Mike Casner of Keene, New Hampshire, a perennially strong mountain runner who has recorded several top-ten finishes at Mount Washington.

Last year NEW ENGLAND RUNNER magazine paid a $4100 bonus to Fram for breaking Norrisi record. This year the magazine is offering $2000 for any male master who beats Framis record, and for any female master who breaks Joan Samuelsonis record of 1:16:03.

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

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 Associate sponsor: NEW ENGLAND RUNNER Associate sponsor: DISTRIBUTION SERVICES OF AMERICA

Records: Menis open n Daniel Kihara, Kenya, 1996, 58:20.5. Womenis open n Magdalena Thorsell, Albuquerque NM, and Sweden, 1998, 1:10:08.2 Menis masters n Craig Fram, Plaistow NH, 2001, 1:04:28.6. Womenis masters n Joan Samuelson, Freeport ME, 1997, 1:16:02.7.

Contacts:

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