2024 Delta Dental Mt. Washington Road Race to be held June 15th
- JOE GRAY POISED TO MAKE HISTORY
- AMBER FERREIRA BACK TO DEFEND TITLE
- DEEP ELITE FIELDS TO CHALLENGE
| [June 3, 2024 – Pinkham Notch, N.H.] Excitement is swelling as the 63rd running of the Delta Dental Mt. Washington Road Race is fast approaching on June 15th. In the history of the Mt. Washington Road Race, there have been three people who have won seven times: Joe Gray, 40 of Colorado Springs, Colo. who won his seventh last year, Kim Dobson also of Eagle, Colo. who won her seventh in 2022, and reaching back in history, Bob Hodge who held the wins record alone for 35 years after his seventh win in 1987. Gray, already considered the “GOAT” (greatest of all time) of American mountain running, is hoping to make history with a win in June. This would move Gray into the position of “all time wins” record holder alone, putting yet another feather in his overflowing cap, and cement his stellar legacy in mountain running lore. Gray has won the World Mountain Running Championship in 2016 and 2019 and finished 5th in 2023. At 40 years old Gray is still the cream of the American mountain running crop, and the overwhelming favorite to repeat and make history in June. Hoping to derail Gray’s attempt at history is an unusually long list of elite men who are all capable of winning. Leading the list of the returning elite runners is the ever present and legendary Eric Blake, 45 of West Hartford, Conn. Blake, a four time winner, is perpetually in the top 3 or 4, is always consistent, and can not be overlooked. Another past winner, Sage Canaday, 38 of Poncha Springs, Colo., won in 58:27 in 2012 in his debut and finished third in 2018. Canaday finished 12th overall at the Los Angeles Marathon and 16th overall at the Boston Marathon in 2016. Depending on how Canaday runs, he is more than capable of winning. Finishing in second place in 2022 and sixth in 2023 is Everett Hackett, 34 of Hartford, Conn. Hackett is coming off a second place finish at the Loon Mountain Race in 2023 and is a two time Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier. Also returning after an eighth place finish in the weather shortened 2022 version of the race is Adrian McDonald, 35 of Fort Collins, Colo. McDonald has won the Leadville 100 and the Mount Evans Ascent twice. He has yet to race all the way to the summit where he can put his endurance to the test. Heading the list for the first time Mt. Washington runners is a top runner from the Canadian World Mountain Running Team, Remi Leroux, 27 of Waterloo, Quebec. Leroux won the Loon Mountain Race in 2023, was fourth overall in the Valsir World Mountain Running Cup Series, finished fifth at the Sunapee Scramble Mountain Champions, and finished 25th at the World Mountain Running Championship. Another debut runner from Quebec is 25 year old, Samuël Poher. Poher has run a 14:34 5K and has won the Quebec Mega Trail 25K race. Also making his debut is Phillip Royer, 33 of Boston, Mass. Royer won the 50K USATF Trail Championship in 2023 and has run a 2:19:12 marathon. Ryan Jara, 37 of Gorham, Maine, ran at the 2024 US Olympic Marathon Trials and has a personal best of 2:17:19 in the marathon. Rounding out the debut runners are a couple of young runners. Elias Field, 24 of Woodbury, Conn., is a former Central Connecticut University cross country and track runner who was coached by Eric Blake. Elias has run a 14:57 5K and 67:04 half marathon in 2023. Finally, the youngest elite runner in the field is 19 year old Patrick Gandini of Gilford, N.H. Gandini has a running and nordic skiing background. He has three New Hampshire state cross country skiing championships and four cross country and track state championships. Gandini has run a 4:06 1600 meter and 15:05 5K. In the women’s race, the 2023 champion, Amber Ferreira, 42 of Concord, N.H., is back to defend her title. With her 2023 win, Ferreira was the first person from N.H. to win at Mt. Washington since 1997. Unlike most human beings, Amber seems to be getting faster with age. In 2018, Ferreira ran a 1:21:43 and finished ninth. At the age of 41, five years later, Ferreira ran a 1:15:16 to win. If she can equal or better that time, she will have a good chance to repeat. Challenging Ferreira will be last year’s third place finisher, Meghan Davis, 23 of Plainfield, Mass. Davis is a cross country and track runner at Tufts University with a personal best of 36:45 for 10K. Also returning after finishing in fifth place last year is Tammy Hsieh, 33 of Belmont, Mass. Hsieh participated in the US Olympic Marathon Trials in February of this year finishing with a time of 2:40:36. Haley Heinrich, 31 of Newbury N.H., won the 2023 Vulcan’s Fury Trail Race, finished seventh at the US Trail Championships and eighth at the US Mountain Championships in 2023. The final returning elite runner is Katie O’Regan, 39 of Lititz, Penn. Like Ferreira, O’Regan seems to get better each time she runs Mt. Washington, going from 9th in her first attempt to seventh in her next attempt. She hopes to jump again this year. There are many debut elite runners who will be striving for a win on the women’s side this year. Heading the list is the USATF 50K Trail Champion from 2023, Hannah Rowe, 31 of Boston, Mass. Rowe ran collegiately at Dartmouth and George Washington University. She concentrated on mostly road racing until recently taking up mountain and trail running. Colleen Sands, 28 of Amherst, Mass. who finished third at the 2023 USATF 50K Trail Championship will also be making her debut. Sands won the Seven Sisters Trail race in 2023 which is a grueling 12 miles of extremely technical ups and downs and won the Bandera 100K in Texas in January of this year. Sands ran for the University of Massachusetts in cross country and track. Also new to the rockpile is 31 year old Kayla Lampe of Shelburne Falls, Mass. Lampe is a two time Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier and has a personal best marathon of 2:36:58 that she just ran in November in Philadelphia. Tara Geraghty-Moats, 31 of West Fairlee, Vt., is a member of the US Biathlon Team and has competed at both the World Cup and IBU Cup Level. Before her transition to biathlon, she competed in Nordic Combined where she won the inaugural Women’s World Cup in 2020. Nordic skiers often perform well at Mt. Washington. Geraghty-Moats is certainly an elite athlete, but no one can predict how that will translate into getting up the auto road. Quinn McConnell, 23 of Fort Collins, Colo., is a two-time US Junior World Mountain Team member. She finished eleventh overall in the 2017 Junior World Championship to help her team to a silver medal. She ran a 20:53 6K and ran track and cross country for Colorado College. Finally, rounding out the elites is 21 year old Lila Gaudreault of Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Lila is primarily a long distance runner but has a top ten finish at Loon Mountain, she took fourth place at the USATF 50K Trail Championship and has won the Big Brad Ultra Marathon and the Vermont 50 Miler. Lila is no stranger to the Auto Road as she took first place in this past winter’s Ski, Shoe, and Fatbike to the Clouds event in the snowshoe running division. Sponsored by Delta Dental, the race ascends the Mt. Washington Auto Road from Pinkham Notch, N.H., to the 6,288-foot summit of Mt. Washington. Runners can expect to be challenged by the unrelenting grade (averaging 12%), Mt. Washington’s famously high winds, precipitation, and unpredictable temperatures which makes this race truly one of a kind. Prizes include $1000 apiece for the first male and female finishers, smaller cash prizes for the next five men and women and the top three male and female masters (over 40), prizes for the first male and female finishers from New Hampshire, and a $5000 bonus for setting a new course record. |
In partnership with Delta Dental, proceeds from the race support Coos County Family Health Services Dental Program.
