4th Annual Mount Washington Road Race Hall of Fame Induction
Friday, June 14 -- 6 p.m.
&
53rd Northeast Delta Dental Mount Washington Road Race
Mt. Washington Auto Road
June 15, 2013 – 9 a.m.
· Race’s Hall of Fame honors Day-Lucore, Gutierrez, Teschek and Wyatt
April 23, 2013 -- Pinkham Notch, N.H.
Two great champions from the Rocky Mountains, the race director who brought Mt. Washington into the modern era, and the World Mountain Champion from New Zealand will be honored this summer as the newest members of the Mount Washington Road Race Hall of Fame. In a ceremony at the base of the Mt. Washington Auto Road on Friday evening, June 14, the Hall of Fame will induct J’ne Day-Lucore and Simon Gutierrez, each of whom won the race three times; Bob Teschek, who directed the event for 29 years; and Jonathan Wyatt, the Mt. Washington course record-holder whom many consider the best uphill runner in history.
Formed in 2010, the Mount Washington Hall of Fame recognizes outstanding performers in this annual footrace to the summit of the highest peak in the northeastern United States. The Friday evening ceremony celebrates the folklore and history of the race while also serving as a welcome to some 1200 runners who will make the 7.6-mile ascent of the Auto Road the following morning in the 53rd running of the Northeast Delta Dental Mt. Washington Road Race.
Votes by the Hall’s six committee members, plus the 11 honorees chosen in previous years, determined this year’s new members of the Hall of Fame:
J’ne (pronounced “Janey”) Day-Lucore, of Denver, Colorado, first ran Mt. Washington in 1992 and set a new course record for women in one hour 11 minutes 45 seconds. Already the record-holder for the Pike’s Peak Ascent in Colorado, she came back to the Granite State in 1993 to defend her title as Queen of the Mountain and reached Mt. Washington’s 6288-foot summit seven minutes faster than her nearest challenger. She won again in her third Mt. Washington appearance, 1995, before an injury restricted her running and she turned to triathlons. Even so, she returned to Mt. Washington in 1998 and finished second only to Sweden’s Magdalena Thorsell, who broke the course record that year. Returning in 1999 at the age of 38, Day-Lucore placed fourth, and in 2001 here she was ninth woman overall, second in the master’s division behind only Olympian Joan Benoit Samuelson.
Simon Gutierrez, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, first came to Mt. Washington in 1998 and impressed everyone with a third-place finish. The following year he finished fifth -- two minutes faster than in his debut. Certain he could win Mt. Washington, Gutierrez returned in 2002 and placed first in that year’s weather-shortened race, defeating the hardcore New Englanders as well as then course-record holder and Hall of Famer Daniel Kihara of Kenya. To prove he could win the race at its full distance, Gutierrez ran away from the field in 2003, then won for a third time in 2005. He is also the race’s fastest over-40 runner of all time, having broken Hall of Famer Matt Carpenter’s master’s record in 2008 by finishing fifth overall in 1:01:34, and holding six of the nine fastest master’s times ever recorded at Mt. Washington.
Bob Teschek, of Newport, N.H., ran the Mt. Washington Road Race eight times, beginning in 1966. He became the race’s director in 1982 and turned the race into one of the best-organized events in the sport. His name is familiar to countless Mt. Washington runners, as well as to race directors across the region and farther afield who use his company, Granite State Race Services, to provide timing and finish-line management to several road races on most weekends of the year. He set his own excellent personal best time (1:15:52) for the Mt. Washington Road Race in 1977 and says he will run it again some year.
Jonathan Wyatt, of Wellington, New Zealand, first ran Mt. Washington in 2004, when he became the prohibitive favorite the moment he signed up. He had already won the World Mountain Trophy three times, was an Olympic marathoner, held course records in mountain races all across Europe, and was likely not merely to win at Mt. Washington but to break the course record. In fact he broke it by a minute and 40 seconds, running through damp fog and wind to reach the summit in 56:41, nearly seven minutes ahead of runner-up and U.S. national mountain champion Paul Low. Wyatt returned in 2007 and won again in 1:01:25, still well ahead of the field. He also won the World Mountain title three more times.
The Northeast Delta Dental Mount Washington Road Race pits runners against one of the most challenging obstacles in road-racing anywhere. The Mt. Washington Auto Road rises at an average grade of 11.6 percent, the second half of the course being above the tree line and exposed to Mt. Washington’s notoriously capricious weather. The race has attracted Olympic athletes, Boston marathon champions, and many of the world’s great mountain running specialists, who compete in the White Mountains of New Hampshire along with numerous other runners from across the United States and abroad.
The Mt. Washington Road Race Hall of Fame recognizes athletes whose exceptional accomplishments in the race have added greatly to the history and stature of the event. Inductees are chosen by a vote of the Hall of Fame committee and Hall of Fame members from a longer list of nominees compiled by December 31 of the preceding year. Anyone is welcome to nominate candidates for consideration.
The Friday evening Hall of Fame induction is part of the annual pre-race gathering for stories, brief speeches, information and advice about running up the mountain, and other tributes to the race. The ceremony will start at 6 p.m. in the large tent at the base of the Auto Road, on Route 16 just north of Pinkham Notch. The public is invited.
Regularly updated information about the Mt. Washington Road Race Hall of Fame is available any time on
Facebook (facebook.com/mwrrhof), Twitter (twitter.com/mwrrrecords) and the Hall of Fame blog (mtwashingtonrecords.blogspot.com ). For further information email committee members Dave Dunham (dave.dunham@comcast.net) or John Stifler (jstifler@econs.umass.edu). For information about the Northeast Delta Dental Mt. Washington Road Race, visit www.mountwashingtonroadrace.com.
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