Pikes Peak Marathon
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The Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon is a
trail running Trail running is a sport-activity which combines running, and, where there are steep gradients, hiking, that is run "on any unpaved surface". It is similar to both mountain and fell running (also known as hill running). Mountain running may, h ...
competition that begins at the base of
Pikes Peak Pikes Peak is the List of mountain ranges of Colorado#Mountain ranges, highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, in North America. The Ultra-prominent peak, ultra-prominent fourteener is located in Pike National Forest ...
, in
Manitou Springs Manitou Springs is a home rule municipality located at the foot of Pikes Peak in western El Paso County, Colorado, United States. The town was founded for its natural mineral springs. The downtown area continues to be of interest to travelers ...
,
Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
, and climbs over 7,815
feet The foot ( : feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg made ...
(2382 m) to the top of the 14,115 foot (4302 m) peak. Since 1956, the event takes place each year in late summer, with the Ascent taking place on Saturday (slightly longer than a
half-marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcut ...
, at 13.3 miles), and the round-trip
marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...
on Sunday.


History

On August 10, 1956, Dr. Arne Suominen of Del Ray Beach, Fla., challenged smokers and nonsmokers to race up and down Pikes Peak, a race, in conjunction with the 150th anniversary of the discovery of America's most famous mountain by Zebulon Montgomery Pike. He enlisted 58-year-old real-estate salesman and holistic-lifestyle practitioner Rudy Fahl as the race director. The 56-year-old Suominen, a Finnish former marathon champion and outspoken critic of tobacco, wanted to prove that smoking diminished one's physical endurance. Of the 13 runners that accepted the challenge, only three were smokers. Lou Wille, champion of two Pikes Peak races in the late 1930s and a two-pack-a-day smoker, was likely to be the biggest threat to Suominen's hypothesis. . . . Although he had beaten Suominen to the summit, Wille was disqualified for not finishing the race. In fact none of the smokers completed the round trip. "I think I've proven my point," Suominen said afterwards. "I finished the race and none of the smokers did." . . . It was widely rumored that Jecker's motivation came from an American Tobacco Association offer to reward a victorious smoker with a tidy sum of $20,000. The Pikes Peak Marathon was the first American marathon to allow female competitors, allowing them from the beginning of the marathon in 1956, although no woman entered until 1958. In 1959,
Arlene Pieper Arlene Pieper (18 March 1930 – 11 February 2021) became the first woman to officially finish a marathon in the United States when she finished the Pikes Peak Marathon in Manitou Springs, Colorado, in 1959. (Although known as Arlene Pieper at th ...
became the first woman to officially finish a marathon in the United States when she finished the Pikes Peak Marathon. Her daughter, Kathie, aged 9, became the youngest competitor at that time to finish the race to the summit; however, she did not finish the whole marathon. In 1966 a well-organized marathon was initiated, making the race the third-oldest marathon in the United States. In 1980 a good friend Rudy Faul and fellow runner Carl McDaniel took over as race director; he served as director until 1998 and was named director emeritus in 1999 until his death on August 23, 1999, only one day after the race was held that year. The Pikes Peak Ascent race has twice incorporated the
World Long Distance Mountain Running Challenge The World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships (from 2004 up to 2014 the name was World Long Distance Mountain Running Challenge), is an annual international mountain running competition organised by the World Mountain Running Association ( ...
competition, first in 2006 then again in 2010. The 2020 edition of the ascent was cancelled due to
the ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
coronavirus Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the com ...
pandemic A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic (epidemiology), endemic disease wi ...
, with all registrants given the option of either transferring their entry to 2021, obtaining a partial refund and priority registration for 2021, or obtaining a full refund. At the time the ascent was cancelled, the race directors were still hopeful that the marathon could be held, due to the limited number of runners in the marathon and the comparatively lower level of logistics required at the summit, since runners would be making their own way down the mountain. However, registered marathon runners were also given the same options as those registered for the ascent, should they choose to withdraw from the race. Eventually, the race organizers announced that the marathon would be held, with coronavirus considerations, including cancelling or paring down related events, requiring masks or other face coverings before and after the race, enforcing social distancing regulations at the start and finish, starting the runners in small waves, and eliminating some aid stations.


Course

Because of the nature of the
run Run(s) or RUN may refer to: Places * Run (island), one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia * Run (stream), a stream in the Dutch province of North Brabant People * Run (rapper), Joseph Simmons, now known as "Reverend Run", from the hip-hop group ...
(dirt trails, rock, and other natural obstacles) and the high altitude, the race is much more difficult than standard
marathons The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...
. Winning times for the marathon are typically just under four hours (compared to elite "flatland" marathon times of just over two hours). Although the average
grade Grade most commonly refers to: * Grade (education), a measurement of a student's performance * Grade, the number of the year a student has reached in a given educational stage * Grade (slope), the steepness of a slope Grade or grading may also ref ...
of the slope is 11%, some sections are much steeper because the central portion of the race is relatively flat. The initial three miles (5 km) are very steep. The central start as rolling terrain, but become progressively steeper toward the end. The top are above timberline and require some rock scrambling to reach the summit.
Oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...
levels drop progressively as altitude rises, further compounding the uphill ordeal. Winning race times differ significantly from year to year, often depending on weather and trail conditions. Some races have been associated with hot, dry conditions, and others have been associated with
snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...
and cold at the top of the peak. The
race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...
attracts hundreds of runners for both the ascent and for the round-trip. The USDA Forest Service limits the number of runners to 1,800 for the ascent and 800 for the marathon, and the race registration typically fills in one or two days.


Winners


Marathon

The following table shows the official winners of the marathon. Course records are highlighted with green background. The race was lengthened by 1.1 miles in 1976, so that 7–8 minutes must be added to the pre-1976 times for comparison purposes. The most successful male and female athletes in the history of the marathon are Matt Carpenter, outright record holder and winner of the marathon on twelve occasions between 1988 and 2011, and
Erica Larson Erica Larson Baron (born August 11, 1971) is a chemist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and a champion mountain runner. She has won the Pikes Peak marathon on five occasions, more than any other woman since the event's inception in 1959.
, who has won the women's race five times. Carpenter won six times in a row in 2006–2011, as did Steve Gachupin in 1966–1970. Larson won four times in a row in 1999–2002, as did
Danelle Ballengee Danelle may refer to: * Danelle Barrett (born 1967), retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral * Danelle Bergstrom (born 1957), Australian visual artist *Danelle Gay, Miss Michigan USA * Danelle German, American businesswoman and author * Danelle Im (born 199 ...
in 1994–1997.


Ascent

The following table shows the official winners of the Ascent. Course records are highlighted with green background. The men's Ascent record was set during the Marathon in 1993 by Matt Carpenter with a time of 2:01:06. The 2018 Ascent was run on a shortened course of 7.6 miles, finishing at Barr Camp, due to inclement weather being forecast.The Gazette: Pikes Peak Ascent Shortened because of Weather.
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See also

*
Mount Lemmon Marathon The Mount Lemmon Marathon were a pair of separate road race marathon events that took place in the Santa Catalina Mountains near the city of Tucson, Arizona, United States. The initial race, which was in the uphill direction, was held between 2010 ...


Notes


References


External links


Official site

Peak Marathon Course Flyover Map, The Run Scout
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