THREE RACES UP MT. WASHINGTON IN 2012
Northeast Delta Dental Mount Washington Road Race
June 16, 2012 – 9:00 a.m.
7th Newton’s Revenge
July 7, 2012 (weather date July 8), starting times 8:40-8:55 a.m.
40th Annual Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb
August 18, 2012 (weather date August 19), starting times 8:35-8:55 a.m.
June 13, 2012 – Pinkham Notch, N.H.
One day every June, upwards of a thousand runners get the opportunity to test their legs and lungs against the 7.6 miles and 12 percent average grade of the Mt. Washington Auto Road. One day every July and August, a comparable number of cyclists make the same trip on two wheels.
THE RACES:
The 2012 Northeast Delta Dental Mount Washington Road Race takes place this coming Saturday, June 16, when nearly 1200 runners will make the ascent to the summit of the highest peak in the northeastern United States. Starting time is 9 a.m.
Most of those runners will be focusing on the challenge of keeping themselves moving upward in this grueling event. Some will be trying to better a previous year’s performance, and a few will be competing for bragging rights in their age-groups – which include one for men over 90 years of age.
In addition this year, two or three dozen men will be competing for the chance to represent the United States this year in the World Mountain Running Championships. This, the 52nd annual run up the historic Auto Road, serves as the sole selection race for the 2012 U.S. National Mountain Running Team. The first six male finishers who are also U.S. citizens will be named to the team, which will compete at the world championships in Italy in September.
American favorites include defending Mt. Washington champion Rickey Gates of Woody Creek, Colorado; Max King, of Bend, Oregon, who won the individual men’s world championship last September in Albania; Tommy Manning, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, last year’s runnerup at Mt. Washington; previous U.S. team members Joe Gray of Newcastle, Washington and Matt Byrne, of Scranton, Pennsylvania; and several others, including a number of runners who will be making their first attempt at Mt. Washington.
The man who could beat all of them – but who will not be competing for a spot on the U.S. team -- is Marco deGasperi, of Bormio, Italy, who has won the men’s individual world mountain championship six times and is making his first Mt. Washington appearance.
The women’s field includes the top three female finishers from last year: Kim Dobson of Denver, Colo.; Brandy Erholtz, of Evergreen, Colo.; and Kasie Enman of Huntington, Vermont. After finishing third last year at Mt. Washington, Enman went on to win the women’s individual trophy at the 2011 world championships, sharing with Max King a stunning pair of U.S. gold medals.
The women’s qualifying race for this year’s U.S. national team will be at Loon Mountain, in Lincoln, NH, on July 8.
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On July 7, the Auto Road will welcome some two hundred cyclists in the 7th annual Newton’s Revenge, the first of two bike races held each summer on the Auto Road. The race typically draws from a broad population of serious amateur cyclists across the northeastern United States, Quebec and Ontario, with the occasional professional cyclist coming to test his or her hill-climbing ability.
This year, the overall Newton’s Revenge winner could be 49-year-old Marti Shea, of Marblehead, Massachusetts. Shea has won the women’s division of Newton’s Revenge in each of the previous years it has been held, and her time on the course last year was within a few seconds of the best times ridden by the men who are entered in Newton’s in 2012. On May 12, Shea won the women’s division of the bike race up Mt. Wachusetts in Massachusetts, beating all but the first five men in the race. Just one of those men so far has entered Newton’s Revenge -- Gregory Larkin, 44, of Hollis NH, who made the Wachusett climb a scant three seconds ahead of Shea.
Newton’s Revenge starts at 8:40 a.m. on July 7, when the Top Notch group – the first and usually fastest of four waves of riders -- begin the climb. Three other groups, including junior riders, tandems, and others by age group, follow at five-minute intervals. Finishing times are adjusted for the gap in starting times; last year the men’s overall winner, Dereck Treadwell of Oneonta, NY, actually started in the second group but finished in a net time faster than anyone in the Top Notch group.
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Established in 1973, the Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb is exactly the same race as Newton’s Revenge, although usually with a larger field – for two reasons. First, it is older and therefore has a longer history. Second, the Hillclimb is the principal annual fundraising event for the Tin Mountain Conservation Center in Albany, N.H. The Center offers classes, workshops, excursions and other lessons in the workings of the natural world. Registration for Newton’s Revenge opens only after the field for the Hillclimb has filled to its limit of 600 cyclists. Registration for the 2012 Hillclimb opened on February 1st, and within four days the field had reached capacity, as it tends to do every year.
Often described as more severe than the steepest climbs in the Tour de France, the Mt. Washington Auto Road has frequently been a proving ground for riders who have gone on to international competition. The men’s course record-holder for the Auto Road is Tom Danielson, who set that record in 2002, then in 2011 was the first American finisher in the Tour de France. Danielson has won both bike races up Mt. Washington.
The mountain also has attracted internationally established riders who want to test themselves on this ultra-steep climb, as well as to face the added challenge of the famously unpredictable Mt. Washington weather, which can include 40- to 65-mph. gusts of wind and various kinds of precipitation. The women’s course record-holder is legendary French cycling star Jeannie Longo. Danielson’s record for the ascent is 49 minutes 24 seconds; Longo’s is 58:14.
For 2012, the men’s field for the Hillclimb is led by former Olympic mountain biking medalist Tinker Juarez of Whittier, California. Last year at the age of 50, Juarez finished second in the Hillclimb – behind 56-year-old cycling legend Ned Overend, who is not entered this year. Marti Shea again leads the women’s field for the Hillclimb.
Like Newton’s Revenge, the Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb starts at 8:40 a.m., with riders commencing the ascent in four waves at five-minute intervals.
NOTE: Given the occasional severity of Mt. Washington weather, either race may be postponed until Sunday if the Auto Road staff determine that precipitation, low temperatures or high winds have combined to make conditions on the road unsafe on Saturday.
The Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb and Newton’s Revenge are two of ten events in the Bike Up the Mountain Point Series, familiarly known as BUMPS. The series includes Mt. Ascutney in Vermont, Mt. Wachusett and Mt. Greylock in Massachusetts, Whiteface Mountain in New York State, and other uphill races. For further information see www.hillclimbseries.com.
Interested riders can still register for this year’s Newton’s Revenge. On-line registration is at www.newtonsrevenge.com.
