The Barr Trail Mountain Race
is run on the lower half of Pikes Peak to Barr Camp and back. In addition to offering a competitive race,
the event is within the reach of those who might be new to the sport. Further, the timing of the race
makes it the perfect tune-up for the ascent and marathon held a month later on Pikes Peak.
The start is on Ruxton Avenue by the COG railway depot at an elevation of 6,570'. The race will proceed 6 miles up the Barr Trail gaining 3,630' where it will turn around at Barr Camp at 10,200'. Runners will then head back down the Barr Trail to Hydro Street with the finish being near the Barr Trail trail-head parking lot for a total of 12 miles. The cut-off for the race is 3 hours and 30 minutes. There will be 9 aid stations located at the start/finish, 1.5/10.5 mile, 2.75/9.25 mile, 4/8 mile, and the 6 mile point turn-around point at Barr Camp.
The “Beast from the East” has also been a stomping ground of mine. The “Race to the Clouds” starts at 1,638' and
rises 4,650' to the highest peak in the Northeast at 6,288' above sea level. The road surfaces is alternately asphalt 60% and dirt 40%,
winding 7.6 miles up at an average gradient of 11.5%.
The race takes place on the third Saturday in June and to get into the lottery entries must be received by March 15 of that year.
To get an entry send a S.A.S.E. to: Mount Washington Road Race, Granite State Race Services, P.O. Box 990, Newport, NH 03773-0990.
Because there are only 1000 spots available — with most of them given away in the lottery — it can be pretty hard to get into
this race! There is a lottery bypass if you:
Here is the Mt. Washington Road Race home page with just about everything you would want or need to know about the race.
The Mt. Washington Observatory home page has lots of info not related to the race. It also has some neat photos as well as a live shot from the observatory on the summit. Here is another cam page that has live pictures of the Mt. Washington area.
Finally here is a page called appropriately enough the “Mt. Washington Page” with lots of general info and links concerning Mt. Washington. It even has
a scan of a topo map for the area.
Although I have done all the SkyMarathons listed above, and more, none stand out in my mind like the Fila Tibet TopMarathon. From September 4 through October 5, 1995, I was in Nepal and Tibet to participate in the World’s Highest Marathon held at a constant elevation of 17,060 feet (5,200 meters)! When I did the race in 1993, 1994, 1996 and 1998 it was held at only 14,350 feet. Here is an e-mail diary of my 1998 race. Sure the races are insane, but the trip is a once in a lifetime experience — OK perhaps more than once;-).
Another favorite mountain of mine is Vail mountain, home of the Vail Hill
Climb! It gains 2,000 feet in 7.5 miles. Here is a
live picture from the top of Vail mountain.
The fine people at Vail moved the race start in 1995. I guess that is one
way for them to get a new course record — but then again no one was
going to run faster than 46:53 anyway:-)
Click me for more photos...
